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Labour Union (, ''UP'') is a minor
social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
. It was a member of the
Party of European Socialists The Party of European Socialists (PES) is a Social democracy, social democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties from all the European Economic Area, European economic area states (EEA) plus the Unit ...
(PES) until April 2022.2022 Decision taken by the 12th PES Congress
Berlin, 14-15 October 2022.


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 The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
). 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 An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...
with the major Polish social-democratic party
Democratic Left Alliance Democratic Left Alliance may refer to: * Democratic Left Alliance (Poland) The Democratic Left Alliance () was a social democracy, social-democratic list of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. It was formed on 9 July 1991 as ...
(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 The Social Democracy of Poland (, SDPL) is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Foundation The party was founded in April 2004 as a splinter group from the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). The SDPL should not be confuse ...
(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 Marek Stefan Borowski (; born 4 January 1946 in Warsaw, Poland) is a Polish politician. He led the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) for a time and was Speaker of the Sejm (the lower, more powerful, house of Poland's parliament) from 2001 to 2004. ...
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 Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...
electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...
named
Left and Democrats Left and Democrats (, LiD) was a centre-left electoral alliance of List of political parties in Poland, political parties in Poland which was created on 3 September 2006, before the Warsaw municipal election of 2006. The coalition's aim was ...
(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.European Parliament / MEPs: Adam Gierek
In July 2015, the party joined the Zjednoczona Lewica (United Left)
electoral alliance An electoral alliance (also known as a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral pact, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc) is an association of political parties or individuals that exists solely to stand in elections. E ...
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


Presidential


Sejm


Senate


European Parliament


Regional assemblies


Leaders

*
Waldemar Witkowski Waldemar Włodzimierz Witkowski (born 29 October 1953) is a Polish politician, currently serving as a senator. He has been a leader of the Labour Union since 2006, and from 2006 to 2018 served as a member of the Greater Poland Voivodeship Sejmik ...
*
Marek Pol Marek is the West Slavic (Czech, Polish and Slovak) masculine equivalent of Marcus, Marc or Mark. The name may refer to: * Marek (given name) * Marek (surname) * Marek, the pseudonym of Bulgarian communist Stanke Dimitrov (1889–1944) * The tit ...


Members of European Parliament

* Adam Gierek (2004–2019)


Important former members

* Ryszard Bugaj, left in 1998 *
Zbigniew Bujak Zbigniew Bujak (born 29 November 1954) is a former Polish activist and anti-Communist dissident. Biography Bujak was an electrician and foreman in 1980 at the Ursus Tractor Factory, Ursus tractor factory near Warsaw, Poland. He became engage ...
, until c.1997 * Tomasz Nałęcz, left in 2004 to newly created
Social Democracy of Poland The Social Democracy of Poland (, SDPL) is a social-democratic political party in Poland. Foundation The party was founded in April 2004 as a splinter group from the post-communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). The SDPL should not be confuse ...
*
Aleksander Małachowski Alexander () is a male given name, name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in anc ...
, died January 26, 2004 * Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, left in 2005, founded Union of the Left


References


External links


Home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Labor United 1992 establishments in Poland Former member parties of the Socialist International Labour parties Party of European Socialists member parties Political parties established in 1992 Progressive parties Social democratic parties in Poland