Witkowski was born in
Poznań in 1953. He is married and has two children: a daughter, Monika, and son, Maciej. Witkowski is also a notable cooperation movement activist. He was a member of the
Polish United Workers' Party from 1976 until the party dissolved itself in 1990. Then he joined the Labour Union, and quickly rose to become one of the union's leaders in
Greater Poland Voivodeship. Witkowski served as an honorary member of the executive body of the re-election campaign of
President Aleksander Kwaśniewski in 2000 (when the Labour Union supported Kwaśniewski). The Labour Union and
Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) formed a coalition prior to the 2001 parliamentary elections. Witkowski served as one of the coalition's campaign leaders, although he didn't run himself for the
Sejm or the
Senate. From 2001 to 2005, he was first deputy of the Greater Poland
Voivode. In the 2005 presidential election, he supported
Marek Borowski. Witkowski served as a member of the
Greater Poland Voivodeship Sejmik from 2006 until 2018. He was elected a leader of the Labour Union on 25 February 2006. The Labour Union, the Democratic Left Alliance, the
Social Democrats of Poland (SdPl) and the
Polish Democratic Party (PD) formed the
Left and Democrats (LiD) coalition in 2006, just prior to the impending local government elections. Witkowski became one of the joint leaders of the new grouping alongside
Wojciech Olejniczak of SLD,
Janusz Onyszkiewicz of PD, Marek Borowski of SdPl and former President Kwaśniewski. Witkowski contested the October 2007 parliamentary elections, as a LiD candidate in the district of
Poznań. However, despite being No. 2 on the party list, he did not manage to gain enough votes for election to the
Sejm (lower chamber of parliament). Witkowski was also one of eleven candidates in the
2020 presidential election. He did not submit 100,000 eligible signatures until after the
election day change, which resulted in the
electoral commission denying his application. The decision was overturned by the
Supreme Court. In the 28th of June vote he received 27,290 ballots (0.14% nationwide), leaving him second-to-last, with just
Mirosław Piotrowski getting 6 thousand fewer. Witkowski refused to endorse any of the two candidates in the
runoff. Witkowski was elected member of the
Senate in
2023 representing
Constituency no.1. He sits with
The Left parliamentary group. == Honours ==