Combining classes with work, advanced rent for a tiny room, stress, and even burnout, and the advanced demands of the labour marketplace are among the many struggles of a modern student. "The best years of life" of a young generation of workers frequently do not look besides pink. What does the current government offer them in connection with these problems?
On 13 November 2024 a conference was held in the Polish Senate, "Young People on the Labour Market". Representatives of the Z Generation, government and trade unions spoke out. Is this the beginning of affirmative changes in favour of young people?
The reality of young people in the labour market: students are besides workers
A large number of students a day besides do paid work. The state of the housing marketplace and their own economical position forces the little prosperous Z-generation who parents are incapable to keep to combine jobs with classes and science. In the meantime, you should besides build your CV: attend trainings, courses and volunteering courses to make it easier to find permanent employment in the future, as the diploma itself no longer guarantees it.
It's not adequate for a student-worker twenty-four hours a day.
They're the most common ones these days. contract workwhich is advertised to young people as the best for them. Is that truly so? On the 1 hand, it offers flexibility that the employment contract does not provide. The anticipation of choosing the number of hours, frequently even setting a agenda tailored to classes at the university or another needs, is very attractive. However, on the another hand, the contract does not supply permanent employment or benefits, and its work does not include traineeships. A individual may besides be fired overnight, without notice, and uncovering another occupation is unfortunately not so easy. Despite the multitude of employment options, advertised as ,,work for a student”, which we will find at work.pl or olx, there are many willing, and the employment is very frequently decided by ,lucky’ or contacts.
In addition, a large number of employers are looking for a student employee, while not wanting to hire a individual who actually has to attend classes and does not have mythical, long-term experience. It is besides worth mentioning free internships, which supply an perfect chance for the employer to usage the services of the employee, who does not request to pay for the performed activities.
Many young workers are not aware of their rights, have no cognition of contracts, and from school they have only gained doubtful ability to compose a business plan. They are susceptible to many abuses in the labour market.
Generation Representatives It is besides not characterized by the desire to associate in trade unions, they do not see them as a helpful tool to fight for their rights.
Unfortunately, it is not just a feature of a young generation — only About six out of 100 Poles belong to the trade union.
We are raised on excessive individualism, fed by the story of meritocracy and culture promoting work.
The perfect individual sleeps little, never goes home, has no passion, and does not remainder — that's what retirement is for.
Some young people see no reason to fight for their rights due to the fact that they see certain aspects of the labour marketplace as predestined and unchanging. True, many “Zetek” openly criticises the Polish working culture, but there is no time, energy or motivation to join the trade union. At the same time, the thought of students in trade unions is inactive regarded as controversial, as they are not seen as participating in the labour market, paying housing and earning proverbial bread, but only individual who is making money for his passions or holidays.
Meanwhile, occupation precarisation is beginning to include more and more posts. While this may be beneficial for any working students, it may besides become a problem for them erstwhile they leave the university walls and start looking for unchangeable employment where they can make a career. Currently, a individual is expected to be ready to work in variable hours, advanced autonomy, efficiency and versatility.
In the long term, it should be ready to rebrand all fewer years to devote time to the company and prioritise it.
The fear of not uncovering a occupation after college is 1 of the common threads of my survey friends. This sleep spends especially on students of humanities, who frequently hear that with specified a diploma, there is no future" — especially in the era of artificial intelligence development. Not everyone, however, needs to be a computer scientist or entrepreneur, and young people should be able to educate in a direction that they are curious in, not just 1 that translates into the biggest salaries. possibly I confirm this opinion by the many stereotypes heard about the Generation Z: Overgrown idealism, claimability, oversensitivity. However, this attitude, whether critical or not, is not unreasonable. Although “Zetkom” lives better than their parents, it is not a life free from problems and stress.
A young generation frequently suffers from intellectual illness and smoking.
It comes into adulthood with the cognition that it will be very hard for us first, so that it can be a small lighter.
However, young Poles are not completely powerless, and many of them take action to guarantee a more favourable future — specified as activist activity, participation in protests and marches, publicising problems and seeking solutions together.
Among another things, the evidence number of young Poles moved to urns and advocated the coalition of KO, 3rd Way and fresh Left. However, after a year of government, any of the coalition voters expressed discontent over its word of office. The Minister of discipline and Higher Education Dariusz Wieczorek was besides criticised, who did not gain designation of students after a year of pro-Palestinian protests and student occupations that the universities intended to sell.
Young people are besides frustrated by plans Introduction, Credit 0%’, non-contribution of junk contracts and failure to implement the request for low-cost housing which would change their situation for the better and warrant them an component of safety in the face of precarious labour marketplace conditions. The ruling coalition assures that it has large plans. So how is he going to take care of young workers?
Conference in the legislature of Poland
The gathering began with the words of the Vice-Marszalkini of the Senate, Magdalena Biejat, who admitted that the thought of the conference came from young citizens – the co-organizer was the Pomost Association, acting all day towards the activation of Warsaw's youth.
The entry word stressed the importance of educating the young generation on labour rights and trade unions. The guests were: Deputy Marshal of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty, Minister for Equality Katarzyna Kotula, Deputy Minister of Education Paulina Piechna-Więckiewicz and Chief Labour Inspector Marcin Stanecki. A letter from the Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk was besides read, which did not appear personally at the meeting.
It is impossible to announcement the deficiency of representatives of another political options. According to the program, the talker of the legislature of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska was besides scheduled to appear at the conference, but the speech did not occur. There was besides a deficiency of a Minister of discipline and Higher Education, whose presence and support could prove valuable, given how much the subject of students and youth work is presently intertwined.
During the conference, guests repeatedly expressed support for the young generation and its critical attitude towards the country's working culture. The absent Minister Dziemianowicz-Bąk, in a letter to young workers read at the conference, talked about the request for a change in the working culture and the current low unemployment, while at the same time reducing the quality of employment. She besides expressed her support for Generation Z's attitude: ,Yes, be petitioned. Make certain that no 1 violates your rights, request average employment contracts even at the very beginning of your professional career, do not accept free overtime, do not take your work home, take care of the balance between private and professional life, do not worry about stereotypes about your generation, change the Polish labour marketplace for the better. [...],We will perceive to your voices about the situation of young people on the Polish labour marketplace [...] The hotel is open to dialog [...]’.
There were besides references to the government's actions in relation to the labour marketplace to date, which, in my opinion, did not seem very awesome due to the fact that they frequently did not even fit into the subject of the event. Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk mentioned in the list of actions taken by the government, specified as: the Active Parent Programme—to facilitate young work while establishing a family, to increase protection against harmful substances at work, to extend maternity leave for early parents, to strengthen the State Labour Inspection, to make a fresh definition of mobbing, ,,to fight for higher wages” and ,to start a debate on shortening working time”.
A akin maneuver was adopted by Minister Kotula, who in her speech quoted the past of her first work, expressed large support for the attitude of young people who want to change the marketplace for the better, and presented the importance of an equal law that protects citizens from discrimination — including in the workplace.
Deputy Minister Piechna-Wożekiewicz besides spoke, who stressed the importance of discussions on labour rights – first at home, then at school, and the importance of balance on the employee-employer line, which has been disrupted and can be restored by young people. She besides assured that the ministry was working on a improvement of the programme base, which is to enter into force in 2026 for primary school and in 2028 for secondary school. She besides announced work on investigation on the state of Polish manufacture education.
The inclusion of labour rights in the programme basis, including cognition of contracts, worker participation, trade unions, and strike laws, could have a immense impact on the fresh generation of workers. Those employed would have cognition and tools to fight for their rights, and talking about this at home and at school could besides affect their individual approach and make them more willing to study irregularities.
Perhaps citizens would not accept different forms of abuse at work if opposition to specified practices had become standard in our society.
Education is the first step.
This issue was powerfully addressed at the conference and appeared in many speeches. The last talker of the panel was Marcin Stanecki, who, as Chief Labour Inspector, cited the importance of cognition of labour law, various types of contracts, and the principles of occupational safety and hygiene, including intellectual health. State Labour Inspection is liable for not well promoted but crucial "Legistical Work" campaign, aimed at spreading cognition on these topics to persons aged 14-24.
During the panel, politicians addressed young people and young adults with words of support and advice on the cognition they should have erstwhile entering the labour market. They noticed where each of their resorts had a chance to work in the benefit of the young generation. Not all statements were concrete declarations, but they may be the beginning of affirmative changes, which, erstwhile decently targeted, are able to aid Generation Z in the Deputy Minister mentioned by you, correct inequalities.
The Voice of a Young Generation
The conference was besides addressed by representatives of young people who cited actual stories and collected data on abuses in young people's workplaces. They have highlighted many problems with any naivety that are characteristic of those who are just entering the labour marketplace and how employers exploit this naivety, deficiency of ability to fight in their own interest and besides easy accept inadequate conditions by young workers.
Members of the Precedens Association presented a short movie on abuses experienced in their first work by their friends.
These stories afraid deficiency of respect from the bosses, delays in paying wages, unpaid overtime, fatigue, exploitation of young workers and intellectual violence.
“Weary at work is experienced by all age group, but most frequently young people complain about its feeling. Employees aged 25-34, more frequently than others, experience intellectual fatigue at work (53%). Physical fatigue, in turn, is the strongest experience among people between the ages of 18 and 24 (49%). The most common causes of fatigue among people under the age of 34 are monotony at work, repetitiveness, besides many tasks and duties and excessive stress."
Source: Conference in the Polish legislature "Young on the labour market".
„The latest investigation of the website Pracuj.pl, as many as 66% of the representatives of the generation He declares that their professional aspirations are linked to individual passions and hobbies. However, this does not mean that they enter the labour marketplace with large enthusiasm... alternatively with concerns. Only 35% of respondents aged 18-24 feel prepared to enter the labour market."
Source: Conference in the Polish legislature "Young on the labour market".
The association besides presented a survey performed on hundreds of respondents aged 15-25. Interestingly, most young people surveyed felt that they knew their rights well.
The survey revealed that more than half of them worked in black, and more than 60 percent worked on the alleged junk contract.
Half of wage problems have been experienced, and more than half have happened to work more than 40 hours a week. 48 percent of the respondents admitted that they had witnessed a violation of the wellness care requirements, and 46 percent witnessed abuse by the employer. At the same time, 47 percent declare that they know where to study specified abuse. Of course, a group of 100 Warsaw teenagers is not typical of the full country due to the size of the example and the selection of the respondents, however, the results show the negative experience with the work of young Poles.
What do trade unions offer young people?
The data from the Precedens Association survey besides presented an interesting discrepancy between cognition of trade unions and their membership — 89 percent of respondents declared they were aware of their existence, but only 11 percent expressed their desire to join the union. This is not shocking, given my earlier low percent of unionism in the country.
A modern individual is frequently an alienated individual — not only from the results of his work, but besides from another employees.
The current work culture is based on utmost individualism and competition, and due to precarnation of employment work is unstable. More and more often, employment is remote, which completely cuts the unit off from its associates. In a situation of alienation, it is much harder to establish relationships or intercede for individual who has been unfairly treated by his employer. The workers no longer see solutions in the group. They are aware that there are trade unions, but they are either not certain how they operate (e.g. they are not aware of the existence of inter-establishment relationships), or they are simply afraid of worsening the situation and more alienation. They besides do not know what positives are associated with membership.
According to the CBOS survey of 2021, to the question: "Is the current trade union activity mostly beneficial for the country or unfavourable?", 36 percent of the respondents answered ,,I don't know’ and 18 percent assessed it negatively. Unions have a controversial reputation in the eyes of many Poles and people are afraid to take advantage of their help. Moreover, as the lawyer mentioned at the conference, Dr. Michał Matuszczak — if they search this help, this frequently happens in a crisis situation. However, they should know that trade unions are a large protection against specified a situation. What else do relationships gotta offer us?
Three trade unions were invited to the gathering in the Senate: OZZ Workers' Initiative, OPZZ Labour Confederation and WZZ Workers' Unity. On behalf of the worker Initiative, its members from the Warsaw Youth ellipse spoke about the situation of a contemporary student in the labour and housing market. Young trade unionists referred to a reasonably common archetype of a student who does not work and only spends his time at events and with the usage of data they overturned this myth.
According to their quoted Report of Student Wallet 2024 the monthly expenditure of students is about PLN 4,000. Today, 2 thirds of students work — mostly on contract assignments, and 50 percent find this difficult. Meanwhile, universities neglect their resources i.e. dormitories whether canteens and reluctantly grant students social scholarships.
The union members besides shared their individual motivations to act in the relationship.
According to them, young people are not treated as full-fledged workers, are called picky people, and believe that flexible conditions are beneficial to us.
In the bottom-up organization, they see the only solution to their problems, as proved by 2 successful occupations of student homes, conducted by members of the Young Workers' Initiative Circle.
The speech of a associate of the Labour Confederation, Michał Lewandowski, described the process of association with platform workers. He besides described how to make a relationship, which is an highly crucial cognition for the young generation. On the another hand, members of the Workers' Unit proposed classes for schools led by trade unionists. Trade unions can so be a origin of cognition and experience for young people, security, a place of association and bottom-up action towards their own better future.
What's next?
The "Young People on the Labour Market" conference provided a large chance to draw attention to the problems of young people and students who are just starting a career. A four-hour recording of the gathering available on Youtube [“Young people on the labour market” conference in the Polish legislature — Magdalena Biejat and the Precedents AssociationIt is besides a large origin of cognition for those who want to implement it — the statements of trade unionists, students and lawyers — contain quite a few valuable information. However, the event has not been decently promoted, and its dimension may discourage you from full knowing its content. These initiatives should be more and I hope that the November conference will not be the last. However, they should be adapted accordingly to the recipient.
Young participants in the conference have thoroughly described many of the problems they experience. However, these are mostly problems requiring systemic changes, as 1 of the participants pointed out during the discussion.
Apart from the bottom-up organisation, young citizens request government support.
Laws are needed to make life easier for them, in view of the spread of garbage contracts and the expanding precarisation of employment, and those that will aid them in the face of housing crisis. The conference discussed individual actions that each young citizen should take to be ready for the challenges of the labour market, as well as collective actions in the form of joining trade unions that can supply a origin of knowledge, safety and support in the crisis.
However, the Vice-Marshalkini of the Senate, who was the only 1 to participate in the full conference, did not respond to the circumstantial problems raised by the participants. At the same time, given that only politicians of the fresh Left Parliamentary Club were present at the meeting, it is hard to have advanced expectations of future changes.
The task was prepared as part of the improvement of the Centre for the Support of Councils of Workers co-financed by the National Institute of Freedom Centre for the improvement of civilian Society under the Government Programme for the improvement of Advisory Organisations for the period 2022–2033.
