diff --git a/Lib/posixpath.py b/Lib/posixpath.py
index 6be031b..b6438bd 100644
--- a/Lib/posixpath.py
+++ b/Lib/posixpath.py
@@ -337,7 +337,11 @@
 def abspath(path):
     """Return an absolute path."""
     if not isabs(path):
-        path = join(os.getcwd(), path)
+        if isinstance(path, unicode):
+            cwd = os.getcwdu()
+        else:
+            cwd = os.getcwd()
+        path = join(cwd, path)
     return normpath(path)