Labour Union
Unia Pracy
LeaderWaldemar Witkowski
Founded7 June 1992
Merger ofDemocratic-Social Movement
Polish Social Democratic Union
Labour Solidarity
HeadquartersUl. Nowogrodzka 4, 00-513 Warsaw
Youth wingLabour Youth
IdeologySocial democracy
Progressivism
Political positionCentre-left[1]
National affiliationThe Left
European Parliament groupProgressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
Colours  Red
Sejm
0 / 460
Senate
1 / 100
European Parliament
0 / 51
Regional assemblies
0 / 552
Website
www.uniapracy.org.pl

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. Leader: Waldemar Witkowski Vice-Leaders Jan Lus Jan Orkisz Secretary: Grzegorz Niski Treasurer: Dariusz Nowak Chairman of the Presidium of the National Council: Elzbieta Zakrzewska Vice-Leaders of the Presidium of the National Council: Anna Jagielska Piotr Goruk-Gorski Treasurer of the Presidium of the National Council: Danuta Polak

Election results

Sejm

Election Votes  % Seats +/– Government
1993 1,005,004 7.3 (#4)
41 / 460
 Increase 41 Opposition
1997 620,611 4.7 (#6)
0 / 460
 Decrease 41 Extra-parliamentary
2001 5,342,519 41.0 (#1)
16 / 460
 New SLD-UP-PSL (2001-2003)
SLD-UP (2003-2004)
SLD-UP-SDPL (2004-2005)
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 216 seats in total.
2005 459,380 3.9 (#7)
0 / 460
 Decrease 16 Extra-parliamentary
In an electoral alliance with Social Democracy of Poland and Greens 2004.
2007 2,122,981 13.2 (#3)
0 / 460
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
As part of the Left and Democrats coalition, which won 53 seats in total.
2011 1,184,303 8.24 (#5)
0 / 460
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
In an electoral alliance with Democratic Left Alliance, which won 27 seats in total.
2015 1,147,102 7.55 (#5)
0 / 460
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
As part of the United Left coalition.
2019 5,060,355 27.4 (#2)
0 / 460
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
As part of Civic Coalition, which won 134 seats in total.
2023 1,859,018 8.6 (#4)
0 / 460
 Steady 0 Extra-parliamentary
As part of The Left, which won 26 seats in total.

Senate

Election Seats +/–
1993
0 / 100
 New
1997
0 / 100
 Steady
2001
5 / 100
 Increase 5
As part of the SLD-UP coalition.
2005
0 / 100
 Decrease 5
2007
0 / 100
 Steady
2023
1 / 100
 Increase 1
As part of Senate Pact 2023.

Presidential

Election Candidate 1st round 2nd round
# of overall votes  % of overall vote # of overall votes  % of overall vote
1995 Tadeusz Zieliński 631,432 3.5 (#6)
2000 Supported Aleksander Kwaśniewski 9,485,224 53.9 (#1)
2005 none
2010 Supported Grzegorz Napieralski 2,299,870 13.7 (#3)
2015 none
2020 Waldemar Witkowski 27,290 0.1 (#10)

European Parliament

Election year # of
votes		  % of
vote		 # of
overall seats won		 +/–
2004 569,311 9.4
1 / 54
 Increase 1
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 5 seats in total.
2009 908,765 12.3
1 / 50
 Steady
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 7 seats in total.
2014 667,319 9.4
1 / 51
 Steady
As part of the SLD-UP coalition, which won 5 seats in total.
2019 168,745 1.24
0 / 51
 Decrease 1
As part of the Left Together coalition.
Timeline of Polish socialist/social democratic parties after 1986
•Polish Socialist Party (1987–)
•Polish Social Democratic Union (1990–1992)
•Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (1990–1999)
•Democratic-Social Movement (1991–1992)
•Labour Union (1992–)
•National Party of Retirees and Pensioners (1994–)
•Democratic Left Alliance (1999–2021)
•Reason Party (2002–2013)
•Social Democracy of Poland (2004–)
•Freedom and Equality (2005–)
•Polish Left (2008–)
•Left Together (2015–)
•Spring (2019–2021)
•New Left (2021–)

Leaders

Members of European Parliament

Important former members

References

  1. 1 2 Henningsen, Bernd; Etzold, Tobias; Hanne, Krister, eds. (15 September 2017). The Baltic Sea Region: A Comprehensive Guide: History, Politics, Culture and Economy of a European Role Model. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag. p. 352. ISBN 978-3-8305-1727-6.
  2. ↑ Ingo Peters (September 2011). 20 Years Since the Fall of the Berlin Wall: Transitions, State Break-Up and Democratic Politics in Central Europe and Germany. BWV Verlag. pp. 275–. ISBN 978-3-8305-1975-1. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
  3. ↑ Larry Diamond (29 July 1997). Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies. JHU Press. pp. 127–. ISBN 978-0-8018-5794-2. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  4. ↑ 2022 Decision taken by the 12th PES Congress, Berlin, 14-15 October 2022.
  5. 1 2 European Parliament / MEPs: Adam Gierek.
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