Labour Union (Poland)

Infobox_Political_Party
party_name = Labour Union
party_
colorcode = #FF0000
leader = Waldemar Witkowski
foundation = June 1992
ideology = Social democracy
headquarters = ul. Nowogrodzka 4, 00-513 Warsaw
international = Socialist International, Party of European Socialists
website = http://www.uniapracy.org.pl/

Labour Union ( _pl. Unia Pracy) (UP) is a Polish left wing political party. It is a member of the Party of European Socialists, and Socialist International.

Labour Union was formed in June, 1992. It contested the 1993 Polish 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, the 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, the UP entered into an electoral alliance with the larger left wing Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (SLD), and managed to get 16 of its members elected to parliament. Some of those subsequently left the UP to join the newly created Socjaldemokracja Polska (SDPL), a splinter group of the SLD. In May 2004, the 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 Marek Borowski in his fight for the Polish presidency in 2005. At the Polish 2005 parliamentary elections, the SDPL gained only 3.9% of the vote, which was insufficient for the alliance to achieve parliamentary representation.

In 2006, the UP joined the SLD, SDPL and Partia Demokratyczna (PD) parties to form an electoral alliance of centre and left parties, named Left and Democrats (LiD), for the upcoming local government elections. This alliance was maintained for the 2007 parliamentary elections, and LiD came in third with 13.2% of the vote, which saw 53 of its candidates elected to the Sejm. Unfortunately for UP, it was the only one of the four parties of the LiD alliance, not to have any of its candidates elected.

Leaders

* Waldemar Witkowski
* Marek Pol

Members of Polish Parliament (Sejm) (2001-2005)

MP, constituency

* Andrzej Aumiller, Poznań
* Barbara Błonska-Fajfrowska, Katowice
* Bronisław Dankowski, Konin
* Hanna Gucwińska, Wrocław
* Marian Janicki, Kalisz
* Ewa Kralkowska, Łódź
* Józef Kubica, Gliwice
* Jerzy Müller, Elbląg
* Jan Orkisz, Kraków
* Alfred Owoc, Gorzów Wielkopolski - Zielona Góra
* Ryszard Pojda, Rybnik
* Marek Pol, Konin
* Danuta Polak, Częstochowa
* Zofia Wilczyńska, Koszalin

Important former members:

* Ryszard Bugaj, left in 1998
* Zbigniew Bujak, until c.1997
* Tomasz Nałęcz, left in 2004 to newly created Socjaldemokracja Polska
* Aleksander Małachowski, died January 26, 2004
* Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, left in 2005, founded Union of the Left

External links

* [http://www.uniapracy.org.pl/ Home page pl icon]