CBOS JANUARY 2005 ISSN 1233 - 7250 IN THIS ISSUE: POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR IN POLAND AND IN THE WORLD R POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR 2004 IN POLAND Since 1992, the Poles have been electing the Polish politician of the year - the AND IN THE WORLD person who, in their opinion, have done the most for the country, the society, people like them. The respondents propose their own candidates for the title of the politician of the year rather than choose from a list. R EVENT OF THE YEAR For the ninth time, Aleksander Kwaśniewski became the Polish politician of the 2004 IN POLAND year. Although the President maintained his clear advantage over the other candidates for AND IN THE WORLD the title, he received much fewer votes than a year before (14% to 22%). As in 2003, Jan IN YOUR OPINION, WHICH POLISH POLITICIAN DESERVES THE TITLE OF THE POLITICIAN Rokita was second and the "Samoobrona" OF THE YEAR 2004? R leader Andrzej Lepper was third. The group TRADE UNIONS Aleksander Kwaśniewski 14% IN COMPANIES of politicians most frequently indicated as candidates for the Politician of the Year title Jan Rokita 7% also includes the current Speaker of the Andrzej Lepper 6% Sejm (until recently, the Minister of Foreign R THE POLES' Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz 3% SATISFACTION Affairs) Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz. Other WITH THEIR LIVES relatively often mentioned candidates Marek Borowski 2% IN THE YEARS 1994 - 2004 include: Marek Borowski, Lech Kaczyński, Lech Kaczyński 2% Zbigniew Religa and Roman Giertych. In Roman Giertych 2% the opinion of as many as 27% of the respondents more than ever before none of Zbigniew Religa 2% the Polish politicians deserves the title of the None, there is no such politician 27% PUBLIC OPINION politician of the year 2004. The fact that I don't know; difficult to say 23% RESEARCH CENTER people are reluctant to give this title to an - CBOS - active politician is another indicator (beside e.g. the expected low election turnout and a 4a Żurawia growing number of negative opinions about the work of the Sejm) of how disappointed 00-503 Warszawa people are with the Polish political class. POLAND Since the year Ph: (48 22) 629 35 69 WHICH FOREIGN POLITICIAN ACTIVE ON THE GLOBAL SCENE 2002, the Poles have been DESERVES THE TITLE OF THE POLITICIAN OF THE YEAR 2004? (48 22) 628 37 04 electing the foreign (48 22) 693 46 91 George W. Bush 13% politician of the year as Viktor Jushchenko 7% well. In 2004, George Bush Fax:(48 22) 629 40 89 received this title for the Kofi Annan 3% E-mail: [email protected] third time. However, this http://www.cbos.pl Gerhard Schröder 2% time the US President was mentioned by fewer None, there is no such politician 17% Editors: respondents than in the Krzysztof Zagórski I don't know, difficult to say 49% and Beata Roguska previous years (13%, compared with 23% in Translated by 2003 and 20% in 2002). The hero of the Ukrainian “orange revolution” and the current Kinga Pawłowska President of that country, Viktor Jushchenko, was second. Other persons quite frequently mentioned as the candidates for the Politician of the Year title include the UN Secretary- © COPYRIGHT BY CBOS 2005 General KofiAnnan and the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. ALL SOURCES MUST BE CREDITED WHEN ANY PART OF THIS More information about this subject can be found in the CBOS report (in Polish): Politician of the year 2004 in PUBLICATION IS REPRODUCED Poland and in the world, January 2005. Survey executed in January 2005. A representative random sample of adult Poles. N = 1089. 2 01/2005 EVENT OF THE YEAR 2004 TRADE UNIONS IN COMPANIES IN POLAND AND IN THE WORLD Nearly two-fifths of employees (39%) have trade The accession of Poland to the European Union unions in their workplaces. More than half of the hired was definitely considered the most important event for workers (51%) do not have an opportunity to join a trade Poland in 2004. It was mentioned spontaneously by over union organization in their workplace. three-fifths of the respondents. As far as other events of the last year are concerned, the respondents mentioned ARE THERE ANY TRADE UNIONS IN YOUR PLACE OF WORK? different political and economic affairs (such as e.g. the Difficult to say, Rywin affair, the Orlen affair) and the work of the Sejm Yes, there is one Yes, there are a few I don't know committees investigating these affairs, the participation 16% 23% of Poland in the stabilization mission in Iraq and the 51% 11% change of the government. No, there aren't any WHICH EVENTS OF THE LAST YEAR SHOULD, IN YOUR OPINION, BE CONSIDERED THE MOST More than half of the respondents working in IMPORTANT FOR POLAND? companies where there are trade unions (54%) declare Accession of Poland to that they are trade union members. A fifth of all hired the European Union 62% workers are trade union members. Trade unions are more Disclosure of different political 8% and economic affairs common in state-owned and public companies than in The presence of the Polish troops in Iraq 4% private ones. Apart from the form of ownership, the size The change of the government: resignation of of the company plays a role. In the smallest companies Leszek Miller from the position of the Prime Minister, 3% appointment of the government of Marek Belka there are no trade unions, insufficient number of Other 4% employees being one of the reasons. Trade unions prevail There was no such event 5% in such sectors of the economy as: transport and telecommunications (73% of the employees declare that Difficult to say, I don't know 20% there is a trade union in their company), education and The Poles' opinions as to the most important health service (59%), mining and manufacturing (50%). event of the last year in the world are more ambiguous. Trade unions are the weakest in the construction industry, The biggest proportion of the respondents mentioned the trade and services. war in Iraq. Another event of the year 2004 that the Poles The Poles believe that trade unions usually play will remember is the catastrophic tsunami in South- their role quite well. In the opinion of nearly half of the Eastern Asia. Other important events of the last year employees of the unionized companies, the unions mentioned by the respondents include: the extension of usually defend the interests of all employees of the the European Union, terrorist attacks and fighting against company, not just their members. Half of this proportion terrorism, the presidential elections in Ukraine and the re- believe that the unions represent only their members in election of the US President George Bush. conflicts with the management and do not care much about others. However, in some cases one cannot even WHICH EVENTS OF THE LAST YEAR SHOULD, notice that there are trade unions in the company. IN YOUR OPINION, BE CONSIDERED THE MOST Moreover, sometimes the unions restrict their activity to IMPORTANT FOR THE WORLD? defending the interests of their activists and do not care The events in Iraq 23% about other employees, or put the interest of the company The catastrophic tsunami in South-Eastern Asia 13% before the interest of the employees. The extension of the European Union 7% Terrorist attacks and fighting 6% WHOSE INTERESTS DO TRADE UNIONS REPRESENT against terrorism IN YOUR WORKPLACE? DO THEY MAINLY: The presidential elections in Ukraine 5% The re-election of George Bush in the United States 3% defend all employees 45% Other 5% in conflicts with the management, represent their members only, do not care much about 19% others There was no such event 2% do not defend anybody's interests. They act 13% as if they weren't there Difficult to say, I don't know 44% they defend the interests of their activists only and do not care about other employees 9% they put the interest of the company More information about this subject can be found in the CBOS report 6% (in Polish):Event of the year 2004 in Poland and in the world , January before the interest of the employees 2005. Survey executed in January 2005. A representative random Difficult to say 9% sample of adult Poles. N = 1089. PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH CENTER - CBOS - 01/2005 3 Most hired workers have not noticed any IS YOUR TOTAL PAY “FORMALLY DECLARED”, I.E. DOES YOUR violations of the basic rights of the employees in their EMPLOYER PAY SOCIAL INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS, workplaces. However, there are some visible areas where CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS YOUR FUTURE PENSION ETC. ON YOUR TOTAL SALARY, ON A PART OF YOUR SALARY, OR IS these rights are not observed. Most employees declare YOUR SALARY NOT TAXED AT ALL? that they are free to organize trade unions in their 87% Social insurance contributions 96% company or join the existing trade union organizations, are paid on my total salary 80% but a third admit that this is not the case. More than a Social insurance contributions are paid on more 5% than half of my salary and the rest is paid 3% quarter of the hired workers are sometimes forced to work without tax, "under the table" 7% 3% longer than stipulated in their contracts without an Social insurance contributions 0% are paid on less than half of my salary adequate pay. Nearly a fifth of all employees are forced to 6% 2% work in illegal conditions. The most drastic violations of No contributions are paid on my salary 0% All employees the employees' rights, such as a lack of payment or 3% Employees of unionized companies 3% Employees of non-unionized companies delayed payment for work, concern less than a tenth of all I don't know if social insurance is paid on my salary or not 1% employed persons.