Labour Union (Poland) Explained

Country:Poland
Labour Union
Native Name:Unia Pracy
Colours: Red
Leader:Waldemar Witkowski
Merger:Democratic-Social Movement
Polish Social Democratic Union
Labour Solidarity
Foundation:7 June 1992
Ideology:Social democracy
Progressivism
Pro-Europeanism
Position:Centre-left[1]
Headquarters:Ul. Nowogrodzka 4, 00-513 Warsaw
National:The Left
Youth Wing:Labour Youth
Europarl:Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Seats1 Title:Sejm
Seats2 Title:Senate
Seats3 Title:European Parliament
Seats4 Title:Regional assemblies

Labour Union (Polish: Unia Pracy, UP) is a minor social-democratic[1] [2] [3] political party in Poland. It was a member of the Party of European Socialists (PES) until April 2022.[4]

History

Labour Union was formed in June 1992. The party contested the 1993 parliamentary elections, obtaining 7.28% of the popular vote and had 41 representatives elected to the lower house (Sejm). In the following parliamentary elections of 1997, UP received only 4.74% of votes, thereby falling short of the required 5% threshold for election to the Sejm. At the 2001 parliamentary elections, UP entered into an electoral alliance with the major Polish social-democratic party Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), and managed to get 16 of its members elected to parliament. Some of those members subsequently left UP to join the newly created Social Democracy of Poland (SDPL), a splinter group from the SLD. In May 2004, UP signed an alliance with SDPL, in which both parties agreed to jointly contest the following parliamentary elections under the SDPL banner, and to support the candidacy of Marek Borowski in the 2005 presidential election. At the 2005 parliamentary elections, SDPL gained only 3.9% of the vote, which was insufficient for the alliance to achieve parliamentary representation.

In 2006, UP joined SLD, SDPL and the liberal Democratic Party – demokraci.pl to form a centre-left electoral alliance named Left and Democrats (LiD) for the upcoming local elections. This electoral alliance was maintained for the 2007 parliamentary elections, and LiD came in third place with 13.2% of the vote, which saw 53 of its candidates elected to the Sejm. Unfortunately for UP, the party was the only one of the four component parties of the LiD alliance not to have any of its candidates elected.

In the 2011 parliamentary elections, its candidates joined the electoral lists of SLD. Again, none of them were elected.

They managed, however, to win one seat on the European Parliament elections in 2004; the party held it in the elections in 2009 and 2014.[5]

In July 2015, the party joined the Zjednoczona Lewica (United Left) electoral alliance for the 2015 parliamentary elections. The alliance received 7.6% vote of the vote in the elections, below the 8% electoral threshold leaving it with no parliamentary representation. The alliance was dissolved in February 2016.

In the 2019 parliamentary election, Labour Union candidates ran on the Civic Coalition’s electoral lists; again, none of their candidates managed to get elected.

Election results

Sejm

ElectionVotes%Seats+/–Government
19931,005,0047.3 (#4) 41
1997620,6114.7 (#6) 41
20015,342,51941.0 (#1)New
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 216 seats in total.
2005459,3803.9 (#7) 16
In an electoral alliance with Social Democracy of Poland and Greens 2004.
20072,122,98113.2 (#3) 0
As part of the Left and Democrats coalition, which won 53 seats in total.
20111,184,3038.24 (#5) 0
In an electoral alliance with Democratic Left Alliance, which won 27 seats in total.
20151,147,1027.55 (#5) 0
As part of the United Left coalition.
20195,060,35527.4 (#2) 0
As part of Civic Coalition, which won 134 seats in total.
20231,859,0188.6 (#4) 0
As part of The Left, which won 26 seats in total.

Senate

ElectionSeats+/–
1993New
1997 2
2001 5
As part of the SLD-UP coalition.
2005 5
2007
2023 1
As part of Senate Pact 2023.

Presidential

ElectionCandidate1st round2nd round
  1. of overall votes
% of overall vote
  1. of overall votes
% of overall vote
1995Tadeusz Zieliński631,4323.5 (#6)
2000Supported Aleksander Kwaśniewski9,485,22453.9 (#1)
2005none
2010Supported Grzegorz Napieralski2,299,87013.7 (#3)
2015none
2020Waldemar Witkowski27,2900.1 (#10)

Regional assemblies

Election year% of
vote
  1. of
    overall seats won
+/–
199812.0 (#3) 89
As part of the Social Alliance.
200224.6 (#1) 100
As Democratic Left Alliance – Labour Union.
200614.2 (#4) 123
As part of the Left and Democrats.
201015.2 (#4) 19
As Democratic Left Alliance – Labour Union.
20148.8 (#4) 57
As part of SLD Lewica Razem.
20186.6 (#4) 17
As part of SLD Lewica Razem.

European Parliament

Election year
  1. of
    votes
% of
vote
  1. of
    overall seats won
+/–
2004569,3119.4 1
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 5 seats in total.
2009908,76512.3
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 7 seats in total.
2014667,3199.4
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 5 seats in total.
2019168,7451.24 1
As part of the Left Together coalition.

Leaders

Members of European Parliament

Important former members

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: The Baltic Sea Region: A Comprehensive Guide: History, Politics, Culture and Economy of a European Role Model. 352. Henningsen. Bernd. Etzold. Tobias. Hanne. Krister. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag. 15 September 2017. 978-3-8305-1727-6.
  2. Book: Ingo Peters. 20 Years Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Transitions, State Break-Up and Democratic Politics in Central Europe and Germany. 6 February 2013. September 2011. BWV Verlag. 978-3-8305-1975-1. 275–.
  3. Book: Larry Diamond. Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies. registration. 21 July 2013. 29 July 1997. JHU Press. 978-0-8018-5794-2. 127–.
  4. https://pes.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Decisions-taken-by-the-PES-Congress-Berlin-2022-1.pdf 2022 Decision taken by the 12th PES Congress
  5. http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meps/en/28379/ADAM_GIEREK_history.html European Parliament / MEPs: Adam Gierek