Trade unions in the care and healthcare sector: demands, strategies, perspectives

Debate (in Polish) with trade union representatives from: Intercompany Organisation of Care Workers (OMPO), National Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives (OZPiP), National Trade Union of Paramedics (PZZRM) Workers’ Initiative (IP), moderator: Katarzyna Rakowska (WS UW)

The seminar will be held on Zoom, in Polish. Registration required (open until 3.02.2021) via the application form on our website. We will e-mail the link to the meeting to registered participants. We are planning live streaming of Facebook. The meeting will be recorded and archived on our YouTube channel and in Resources on Biennale website. To protect your image, we ask you to keep your cameras and microphones off during the entire event. But we do encourage you to join the discussion and send us questions on the chat. The moderators  will ask them on your behalf.

The inaugural meeting in the series “Care revolutions” will be devoted to discussing demands of trade unions operating in the area of care and healthcare. The debate, moderated by Katarzyna Rakowska, will provide space for the exchange of ideas of trade unions operating in various branches of the care sector. Guests we invited to participate include representatives of the National Trade Union of Nurses and Midwives, National Trade Union of Paramedics, Voice of Care Workers, and Workers’ Initiative. We intend to talk about where these groups stand after years of neglect and chronic underfunding, and to reflect on possible strategies of resistance. Why is care work still undervalued and low-paid? How is it possible that such tragic work conditions did not lead to mass strikes? How can you fight for your demands to be met, when you have to work all the time? What forms of solidarity can effectively strengthen the union movement in Poland?