As a member of United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate citizenship organisation, Grupa LOTOS has undertaken to support and respect internationally proclaimed human rights, eliminate human rights abuse, uphold the freedom of association and effectively counteract discrimination in respect of employment. The concerns listed above are regarded by the Company as central to shaping its corporate culture. We take active measures to meet international human rights standards, endeavouring – where practicable – to exceed the requirements imposed by law.

Human rights related to collective employment relations are set out in Convention 87 and Convention 98 of the International Labour Organisation ratified by Poland, and include freedom of association and protection of union rights, as well as the right to organise and collective bargaining. These rights, referred to as fundamental social rights by Council of Europe sources, have been incorporated into the European Social Charters and include freedom of assembly and association, the right to bargain, the right to information and consultation, and the right to participate in determination and improvement of working conditions and environment. They have also been recognised in the Polish Constitution and other laws effective in Poland, including the Labour Code, the Trade Union Act, the Act on Resolving Collective Disputes, the Act on Information and Consultation of Employees and the Act on Social Labour Inspectorate.

In exercise of their rights and in discharge of their obligations under these legal enactments, the LOTOS Group members enable and facilitate the exercise of participation rights by their employees. A formal recognition of these rights is the bargaining approach widely applied by employers within the LOTOS Group to negotiate terms of employment.

All LOTOS Group members with headcounts of more than 20 have negotiated and signed Corporate Collective Bargaining Agreements. Each of them has been repeatedly amended by way of supplementary protocols in consultation with the respective trade unions, which clearly demonstrates that the right to collective bargaining is a matter of normal practice and is respected by the employers. In line with the Corporate Collective Bargaining Agreements, changes to employee salaries are agreed by negotiation and relevant arrangements are made on an annual basis.
Human rights considerations are addressed during sessions held under the Induction Programme for new employees at selected LOTOS Group companies. OHS training programmes also cover human rights issues, as required under applicable laws. Before the Induction Programme was launched in 2007, human rights had been a theme of annual meetings between the LOTOS Group’s management and employees. During the meetings, employees had received relevant materials, including copies of the Code of Conduct for Grupa LOTOS’ Employees.