The three union headquarters have sent a letter to President Karol Nawrocki expressing concern about the provisions of the pending presidential amendment to the Health Benefits Law, or - the Hospitality Law. In the letter they present a long list of concerns, even allegations. There is no direct call for a veto, but the tenor of the position is clear.
The ZZ Forum, Solidarity and OPZZ are writing to the president. The issue is the law on hospitality
Published Aug. 19, 2025 19:24
Fot. Dawid Żuchowicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
- A law with such a great impact on the hospital sector raises our concern, especially from the perspective of its social and labor effects, but also the future of public hospitals in Poland, trade unionists wrote to the president. The letter is signed by the Trade Union Forum, NSZZ Solidarność and OPZZ. As they claim, they do not question the need to undertake hospital reform, but "systemic change requires a comprehensive diagnosis of the health needs of the residents of a region, taking into account demographic aspects or availability deficits." This, according to the trade unionists, the current law does not provide.
The trade union organizations' objections to the enacted law include:
- selective public consultation: the law, at the draft stage (this is the third version), was not subject to public consultation as part of the government's consultation process with the trade unions, and the lightning-fast legislative process in parliament gave no chance for a fair debate;
- marginalizing labor issues and overlooking the statutory rights of company trade union organizations to provide opinions and consult on all labor issues, especially in the process of transformations, profile changes, consolidations, transfers and even liquidation of part or all of the medical entities - plants and workplaces for health care workers;
- deterioration of access to publicly funded health services through flexible and systemically uncontrolled transformations of hospital departments, hospital mergers or repair processes - the law does not provide any guarantee whether this access will not deteriorate.
But the trade unionists also point out that the bill imposes new duties on AOTMiT and NFZ, far beyond those that were (are) assigned to them in the current regulations, and even changes the role of these institutions in the health care system. They also point out the idea of creating district health centers, because - in the opinion of the union headquarters - it was not preceded by any analysis and, crucially, no money was reserved for this purpose. The authors of the position paper assess that the law ignores the issue of the responsibility of the minister in charge of health as the creator of health policy of the public health system for the functioning of the system and the guarantee of availability of publicly financed services to patients and, importantly, the safeguarding of the dominant public sphere in terms of services and ownership in the health system.
The unions point out that the new Health Minister Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda has already managed to signal the need to amend the law, while one of its main authors, Deputy Minister Jerzy Szafranowicz, will leave the ministry on August 26.
The law was sent for the president's signature on August 8. Karol Nawrocki has 21 days to make a decision.
