WAYS OF SECURING WORK IN POLAND/KRAKOW EMPLOYMENT OFFICE AND PROCEDURES USED THERE/CHECKS AND DOCUMENTS/WORK DIRECTIVES/OFFICIAL TRANSFERS/SEPARATION FROM WORK/DISMISSALS/EMPLOYMENT OF MINORS KRAKOW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500400058-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 20, 1999
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: June 30, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2000/08/30 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000500400058-1
U.S. Officials Or..!y
+';- pTT1T:NPTj
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT 25X1A
SUBJECT Ways of Securing wc;rk in Poland/Krakow Employment Gffire
and Procedures Used There/Checks and Documents/Work
Directives/Official Transfers/Separation from Work/Dis-'
PLACE ACQUIRED missals/Employment of Minors
(BY SOURCE)
DATE ACQUIRED
(BY SOURCE)
25X1A
THIS OOCUNCNT CON 1A _,INPOPNATION AEECCTIMO Trl[ MA~IONA, DCP
OA THE DN.T(D STA.. NI T11N 1MCNCANINO OF TITLE IA 5CCTIONS 113
AND 111. OF T,II II. COOL. AS l ANCNOCO. ITS TNAN3NI551OH CA -I.
CATION OF ITS CONIINTS TO OA II CCC I PT Ely AN UN AUT110A11CD PEA50N I5
25X1X
THIS is UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
TR.
NO. OF PAGES 10
NO. OF ENCLS,
SUPP. TO
REPORT NO.
1. "The following information on securing work in Poland dates through December
1953:
in Poland
2. "In theory no one is forced to work in Poland. The only people who get summons
to work are those who graduate from colleges and technical ychoole. This is
the only instance when one could talk about conmulsion. Consequently, there
is no obligation whatsoever to register in an Employment Office or any other
one. Naturally persons who do not work do not have the same rights as those
who do work; their sources of income may also arouse suspicion ur;leoo they
are known to the police authorities.
3. "General conditions which prevail in People's Poland are the only inducement
for 'work. Private tradesmen and craftsmen are gradually disappearing;; taxes
are very high. Most trade in Poland is controlled by the State. Private
initiative has been discouraged by official. pressure, taxes, Shortages and
L'. S. 0fficia15 Only
CONFIDENTIAL
915'fRIBUT ION /I~1 STATE ~'1v ?
ARMY NAVY AIR FBI ,~ ORR EV ~~
T3 a report is for the use within the USA of the Intelligence components of the Denarttr(nta or
Agencies indicated above. It i@, not to be trtu rnitted overseas without the concurrence of the
originating the Assistant Director o! the Office of offIce
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c>t}:er difficulties. This is the main reason why almost everybody cror!-s since
there ir; no -:ther way to secure any income whatsoever.
.ecu.: ins; rk
.) f7ecrsG^.,crs - A person looking for work may try to get it through ^.n v],.ver-
?i::,ement in the press. This method is used infrequently at the precent time.
r.mly cpeciali::ts are sought for that way. To advertise oneself is not the
wort successful way since the bulk of those who advertise themselves "re white
,--nll-i,r workers. They are the most difficult people to place, at 1er.s;t iZ Krukov.
,:'c?oc.le who crIn (;et work without any trouble are technicians,, engineers, highly
tr.:Incd e r.,erts In the fields of transportationk, and trade, medical doctors,
r,urseti and bookkeepers. In addition laborers never have any trouble cecuri.ng
er. loyaent .
(b) Employment Agents - I never kne',r any private individuals who were ernE;luy-
ment agents. Perks they exist somewhere such as in the field of domestic
service, but I never heard or met any of them. It is ertrenecly difficult to
get arty servants ii-ice everybody prefers to work in factories or Fworkshor.::.
1 c 1 'r;.z?ty C ff ices - Until about 1949-50 one could get work through the ?arty
off:iccu. The 'arty Ms discontinued this practice. In the past they cent
entirely unsuitable czndldateD for important positions and only trouble rc-?-
..ulteci
'igh'. ru,w the ?arty c-.nd the Trade Unions can only reconunend pec ,le for ::uci-1
or r',:re , u:itions, such as the First or Second Secretary of the ''.inistry c:f
--.ni .?rci::l :-:elfz?.re (P 0 P ); personnel director or someone in the per::orl.-c- .
~aq.'?.rt'rei t. in : uch case, the enterprise hires such a man irres--.ective of
hit, c:u:::lification:. theoretically it's not a must to hire such _ercon but
should the local director refuse he must spell out his reasons. in effect
such reason is .1w: yic hired, and only after a certain period, when it be-
ec n'- : _bvir>-r that the r;orson is not qualified, can he or she be fired, But
even in ;.his crew the _c,rty's consent must be given. It is obvious that such
c,-es .re very rare and. the Party always has a free hand in placing people in
such .oritions as officers in trade unions, chairmen of the Boards, his deputy
and secretaries.
.._..c:e Jnien~ in theory do not interfere and always agree on the selection of
the man :.rho wss elected in union elections and who is an employee of the given
ent=?.rprise. If such a man is to be fired., the Union's consent must be secured.
Trade Unions supply their on people only upon a specific request of c: factory
or -plan' In hiring welfare officers in charge of recreation rooms, Trade
Unions have more to say than the factory itself.
From the above description it ie clear that both the Party and the Unions can
direct their own people to work in various establishments but only in some
positions. In theory all social workers should be elected from among the
working crew of the given enterprise. And this is where the Party moves in
and maneuvers behind the stage. Trade Unions do much less of thw~t.
(d1. Use of Connections - It is also possible to look for work on one's o,,.-n,
or other words to use one's own connections. This method always
existed but it was officially forbidden. It was necessary when a person wa;,
hired to enclose in his filed a directive issued by the Employment Office.
That office was eager not to issue such directives to people who were umert
enough to secure jobs through their own connections but rather to peor-le --:ho
were looking for jobs through normal chennele (mostly to personal friends of
that Office's officials). Plants were forbidden to negotiate conditions of
work with persons who did not have officir.l:- directiveb. Enterprises were
also forbidden to advertise their openings kiless the Office of iployment
;rn6> unable to furnish qualified personnel.
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In -site of all the regulations, friends and relatives were hired, and conse-
quently iri Mdy 1953 a new regulation vas ibsued sanctioning this practice arfd
permitting ruans.gements of plants and factoriesjto hire oersonnel without going,
through :.he Employment Office. person who tries to get a job directly us4is
his or her friends and visits all possible institutions asking for vactencie
((e', Employment Crffice - One can also secure work through the Employment Office.
The following information is a detailed description of an Employment Office and
contains all of the information known to me onthe subject.
Employment: Office and Procedures in Krakow
5. "The Urzr-.d Zatrudnienia (Employment Office) I think changed its name recently
to the Biuro Posrednictwa Pracy W dzialu Prac i. ieki S leczne ; (Work
Securing Bureau, Division of Welfare and Social Security - PMRN). I shall
use the old name since it is shorter and generally used in Poland.
6. "The Employment Office is subordinated to the Prez ium Wo.ewodzkiei Ra
NarodiweJ (District :presidium of the National Council --PWRN and to the Welifare
and Social Welfare Department of the Council of:the Ministers. The Employment
Office is located on Lubelska Street in Krakow.
7. Entrance.,
"The Krakow Employment Office has two entrances'. One is for the customers sad
the other for employees and privileged customers. The entrance for the cus-
tomers leads to a waiting room through a corridor which goes through a small
room with a glass roof. There are bicycle stands in this room. The waiting
room iQ 1rn.rger. -To the left of the customer entrance there are offices with
partitions and three entrances. Each entrance is divided from the other by
a rail. There are no windows for customers. Over the first entrance there s
an inscri3tion reading: 'Unskilled laborers - men and women; over the second
entrance: 'Skilled workers - male and female'; 'over the third entrance:
'White collar workers'. I think that around Aug 53 the order was changed
and the middle entrance was for white collar workers.
Waiting Room
8. "The inside of the waiting room was dirty. It was always crowded and the air
was always stale. The windows are located high up. As far as I can remember
there were benches along the walls. I think that in 1953 I saw benches plac d
near the various entrances.
9. "On the wells there are numerous posters end' announcements about openings for
laborers in railroads, mining and the municipal': transportation company, etc.
There was a lot of propaganda for women's work in all fields.
10. "The lines are fantastic. The entire huge hall., is filled with people. Aroutfd
10 A.M. is tic only time when the waiting room is empty. The longest line is
in front of the entrance for c.hite collar workt.rs. Since May 53 when permission
was given to look for Jobs on one's own, the lines are much shorter. The
other reason is the fact that fewer vacancies have been registered through tlje
Employment office than before.
Procedure
U. "An official walks out to the entrance and informs people that he has such ahd
such o.-.enings. Three or five people who pushed' themselves ahead receive slips
for interviews. The rest cr.n go home as no more openings are expected for the
day.
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:i . 'Tbe nrivile?,ed customerre are admitted into the offices at once. These offices
do not hr.ve pc.. titions.
13. "Inside the offices there are desks and tables where officials sit. On the
desks there are cards which list the available openings. These cards are
kept in a wooden file with partitions. Each partition indicates a different
kind of job.
14. The officials. do not have special unifcrmc only office aprons. They are
not very polite, and it is very difficult to get any concrete information from
them. I do not know how they are paid, but since the Employment office is
subordinated to Presidium of the National Council, they must be paid according
to the scale for employees of the local governments - about 500 to 700 21 per
month.
15. "ene.les.ves the Employment Office through another door - the one used by the
employees when they enter the building. A doorman stands there (he has a chair).
While leaving one has to-walk through a corridor from which doors lead to
offices of the director, his deputy and other officials.
"The`--bLuet tirde for e: i ijarb. ,,mss s r6A a ~ rye .~4 pt,.O 'f ice ie before AM.
Theh &xllUin'Bz-?'8?1n. o ens at 'taxes p 7:30 A.M. Once it is open the aplil~ca:nt his
place in line in front of the proper window. I think the office opens at
8 A.M. and from then on applicants are received.
Checks and-Documents-
17. "Upon admis:o,ion to the offices the applicant gives the official his work termina-
tion notice and hie regi?tre.tioneard (place of residence). Until 1951 only
the former was needed and some kind of an identification. But since home
registration became obligatory, the registration card is always requested.
In 1950 the regulation on compulsory re. istration in an employment office was
dropped. At that time J-950 and before/ an applicant had to present a certi-
ficate of his assets, another one about his family statue and a notification
about being fired or separated from work. At that time registrations had to be
made every feu days.
18. "After presenting the documents - the reai.stration ce.rd and separation certificate -
the applicant hv.s to tell the official what kind of work he would like to secure or
what kind of qualifications ho Possesses. The official then looks in tnu proper
file and tello the applicant what he has to offer and on what kind of conditions.
If the applicant is satisfied) the official directs him to the place of work by
writing a proper paper.
If the applicant is not catisified with the existing openings, he must come back
later.
19. "Usually there is no check made regarding applicant's qualifications. Do degrees
or Eny.r?ther documents are required at this stage. Documentary proof of qualifi-
cations might be asked in cases when an applicant is looking for work for the
first time, doers not. have ceritificate from his previous employer and does not
have any previous experience. Also in the cases of qualified typists a certi-
ficate of efficiency might be asked or the applicant might be asked to type a
few sentences in the presence of an official:. only after such a test can a
work directive: be issued.
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20. "1 no-Jer heard of .anybody being notified by the Employment 'office of a suitable
:Yracrncy_ At present such a poaeibility is entirely out since no registration
is kept at the Employment Csffice of people looking for work. Frior to 19 jQ it
was thearetically possible to notify a person and call him to report to the
office or to keep an opening until he would appear himself as all of them did
every few d5.ye. `?'heoretical.1y nobody can have priority in securing work. At
present the only persona who have to go through the Employment Office are
i.*~borerr.; and persons wncc have never worked and who do not -have any special
q,u.,,lifiications. Such reople may not have .?.ny other posr:ibillties except by
going through the Office. They gener.