ZUS (Social Insurance Institution) – conflict with trade unions. There is a position of the Department

The Wyborcza.pl portal wrote on Thursday that more trade unions are entering into a collective dispute with the Social Insurance Institution, and NSZZ “Solidarność” goes further. The portal said that in a letter to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, the union demanded the resignation of the president of ZUS, Gertrude Uścińska.

“The creation of the image of ZUS by the president of a modern, highly digitized institution is overrated and does not correspond to the reality experienced by employees” – wrote Regina Borkowska, head of Solidarity at ZUS, quoted by the portal.

In her opinion, the Department is in chaos and the institution is managed authoritatively. “The president accepts new tasks for implementation, without the preparation of employees or securing additional measures to compensate for their performance” – indicated the head of the union.

In its position sent to PAP, the Social Insurance Institution contradicts these words. “We categorically disagree with the opinion of the chairman of NSZZ ‘Solidarność’ on the current functioning of the employer. In our opinion, the head of the union is not true and does not see the obvious positive changes that have taken place in the Social Insurance Institution in recent years,” ZUS said.

He added that such opinions are unfair especially for the employees of the Department, thanks to whom it is possible to modernize the office.

In the statement, it was noted that in recent years ZUS has “made a huge step forward, has become a modern office and has opened up to the needs of clients”. on electronization and automation.

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“A good example is the introduction of electronic sick leave, the Polish Tourist Voucher, the solidarity allowance and the e-contribution, which makes it easier for employers to complete formalities. This direction of development is continued and accelerated during the pandemic. the vast majority are handled automatically. Paper applications have been abandoned, which has made it possible to relieve employees as much as possible “- it was indicated.

ZUS emphasized that especially the implementation of the “Dobry start” program, ie 300 plus, is maximally automated and based on modern solutions – electronic submission of applications. All this – underlined – reduces manual and time-consuming processing of documents by employees.

The Department pointed out that of the applications submitted so far, 92 percent. has been verified without human intervention. Thanks to this – he added – currently a small number of ZUS employees work on this benefit – fifteen to be exact.

“We emphasize once again that most of the union members’ demands, including an increase of at least PLN 1,000, cannot be the subject of a collective dispute. UZP) until the agreement is terminated, which results from the provisions of the statutory rank “- emphasized ZUS.

He indicated that the PPO in force at the Institute regulated very precisely the amount of the remuneration fund for a given year and the salary range for individual professional groups.

Therefore, according to ZUS, such a request for increases cannot become the subject of a collective dispute, as it would violate the provisions already agreed under the PPO, including the organization currently instituting the dispute.

“Of course, the management board of the plant will make every effort to improve the financial situation of the plant’s employees, which may take place in accordance with the PPO, and not in the form of a collective dispute” – was assured.

At the same time, the Department emphasized that the management board may operate only within the budget it receives, in accordance with the funds allocated in the budget act passed by the parliament.

“As for the trade unionists’ comments regarding the management of the Institute, we would like to remind you that the institution responsible for controlling ZUS is the Supreme Audit Office, which in its post-audit statement of April 2021 indicated, inter alia, that the management board of ZUS properly exercised supervision and management control over ZUS. and carried out in a purposeful and economical manner, and the reports present reliable data on income and expenses as well as related receivables and liabilities.

ZUS declared that the management board is always open to cooperation with trade unions, however – he reserved – the basis for the talks must be real data on the functioning of the Institute.

“We are opposed to the practices of manipulating information about the employer, while expressing the belief that the basic goal of trade unions should be, like the management board, care for the efficient and effective functioning of the Social Insurance Institution, which in turn gives tangible benefits for employees” – he emphasized in his position ZUS.

Last week, the ZUS Workers’ Union turned to the president of ZUS with twelve demands. The first is the increase from September 1 this year. base salaries of all ZUS employees by at least PLN 1,000 gross per full-time job.

Trade unionists also demand, inter alia, equipping workstations with appropriate quality equipment improving the comfort of work (e.g. headphones, microphones, cameras, laptops or an appropriate number of scanners). They also want, until the restrictions related to an epidemic or epidemic threat are lifted, to provide the employees of the plant with an appropriate number of personal protective equipment. They also demand that the implementation of employee vacation plans be respected.

The trade unions also want to develop, in the form of an agreement with trade unions, by August 11, appropriate guidelines on the organization of work during the prevailing hot weather for the managers of local organizational units.