Cziria, Ludovít

The automotive industry in Slovakia is producing new models after overcoming the recent downturn. Volkswagen Slovakia, based in Bratislava, has brought out an improved version of the 4WD Touareg and is preparing to produce a new small family car in 2011. Employees’ wages were kept down by the recession in 2009. But trade union pressure to increase wages intensified in March 2010, as previous agreements neared expiry. Negotiations took place with the Metal Trade Union Association (OZ KOVO [1]). Emil Machyna, Chair of OZ Kovo, said he would like wages in mechanical engineering to increase by 3.2% and by 2.5% in the electric and energy industry. However, Martin Hošták, Secretary of the National Union of Employers (RÚZ SR [2]) said the wage demands were not justifiable at present, and should be postponed until next year. [1] http://www.ozkovo.sk/?kam= [2] http://www.ruzsr.sk/

The Slovakian government has adopted several measures aimed at maintaining employment. According to the information available, these provisions alleviated the impact of the current economic crisis on employment (*SK0908019I* [1]). Despite this, employment in Slovakia has decreased further and the rate of registered unemployment reached 12.5% in December 2009 – the highest level since 2004. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/anti-crisis-measures-help-to-maintain-employment

The State Secretary of the Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (Ministerstvo práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny Slovenskej republiky, MPSVR SR [1]), Emília Kršíková, and the Vice-President of the Confederation of Trade Unions (Konfederácia odborových zväzov Slovenskej republiky, KOZ SR [2]), Ján Gašperan, issued a press release on 5 October 2009. After four months of negotiations, the social partners had concluded a multi-employer Collective Agreement for Civil Servants and a multi-employer Collective Agreement for Public Servants for 2010. The participants in the collective bargaining [3] round included representatives of the government and regional self-governments, led by the main negotiator Ms Kršíková, and representatives of KOZ SR, the Independent Christian Trade Unions of Slovakia (Nezávislé kresťanské odbory Slovenska, NKOS [4]) and the General Free Trade Union Association (Všeobecný slobodný odborový zväz, VSOZ), led by the main negotiator Mr Gašperan. [1] http://www.employment.gov.sk/ [2] http://www.kozsr.sk/ [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/collective-bargaining [4] http://www.nkos.sk/

On 1 October 2009, a National Seminar on Restructuring in Slovakia was held in the country’s capital city of Bratislava. The seminar was organised by the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO [1]) as a part of a series of national seminars on restructuring [2] organised in all EU Member States, at the request of the European Commission [3]. Almost 40 representatives of employers, government bodies, trade unions and research institutes participated in the seminar. The seminar discussion was based on a national background paper compiled by Ludovit Cziria from the Institute for Labour and Family Research (Inštitút pre výskum práce a rodiny, IVPR [4]) and Juraj Borgula from the Association of Mechanical Engineering (Zväz strojárskeho priemyslu Slovenskej republiky, ZSP SR [5]). [1] http://www.itcilo.org/en [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/restructuring [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-commission [4] http://www.sspr.gov.sk/ [5] http://www.zspsr.sk/

The global economic crisis is having a significant impact on employment in Slovakia. The average unemployment rate had declined from 18.1% in 2004 to 9.6% in 2008. However, the economic crisis has stopped this trend and unemployment began to increase at the end of 2008. In September and October 2008, companies started to notice the effects of the economic downturn through fewer orders from their customers, mainly from the EU Member States, and the economic recession has also had an effect on the restructuring [1] of enterprises. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/restructuring

In 2007, many amendments were made to the Slovakian Labour Code (*SK0709029I* [1]) as well as to the Act on Collective Bargaining (*SK0708019I* [2]). Most of those changes were initiated by the trade unions associated with the Confederation of Trade Unions (Konfederácia odborových zväzov Slovenskej republiky, KOZ SR [3]). Trade unions wanted to increase protection of employees and improve conditions for trade union activities, including collective bargaining [4]. Many of the proposed changes were criticised by employers, with representatives stating that the adoption of such changes would worsen labour market flexibility and hinder the creation of new jobs in the country. The legislative changes were adopted at a time when trade union density as well as the coverage of employees by collective agreements decreased. For instance, according to the Information System on Working Conditions (ISWC) issued by Trexima Ltd in Bratislava for several years (based on the survey company sample), the share of companies with trade unions decreased from 64.5% in 2002 to 43.4% in 2007. As Table 1 shows, the proportion of companies where collective agreements were concluded has also been decreasing. Meanwhile, the number of companies where works councils were elected – but which have no right to collective bargaining – increased from 8.6% to 16% over the same period. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/parliament-adopts-controversial-new-amendments-to-labour-code [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/legislation-amended-to-extend-collective-agreements [3] http://www.kozsr.sk/ [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/collective-bargaining

Despite criticisms of the protest by specialist doctors in May 2008, the President of the Slovak Union of Medical Specialists (Slovenská lekárska únia špecialistov, SLÚŠ [1]), Andrej Janco, demanded a doubling of compulsory payments in the healthcare sector (*SK0806019I* [2]). The Slovak Trade Union Association of Healthcare and Social Services (Slovenský odborový zväz zdravotníctva a sociálnych služieb, SOZZaSS [3]), which represents about 30,000 employees, did not support the protest. Nonetheless, it informed the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC [4]) of the actual situation in the Slovak healthcare sector at that time. [1] http://www.slus.sk/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/specialist-doctors-organise-protest-against-low-income [3] http://www.sozzass.sk/ [4] http://eesc.europa.eu/

Since late 2008, the Slovak government has intensified its activities with the aim of alleviating the consequences of the financial and economic crisis on the Slovak economy and citizens. The parliament approved a package of measures to retain the production ability of the Slovak economy, secure employment and stimulate customer demand and avoid an excessive public deficit. Through consultation in the national tripartite Economic and Social Council (Hospodárska a sociálna rada SR, HSR SR), the social partners were involved in the development of the anti-crisis measures.

On 25–26 September 2008, an international ministerial conference entitled /From the shortage of job opportunities to the shortage of qualified labour force/ was held in Slovakia’s capital city, Bratislava. The conference was organised by the Slovakian Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs and Family (Ministerstvo práce, sociálnych vecí a rodiny Slovenskej republiky, MPSVR SR [1]) under the auspices of the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, with the financial support of the Equal Community Initiative [2] as part of the European Social Fund [3]. Funds were made available in the framework of the International Organization for Migration (IOM [4]) project. The conference was also held under the auspices of the Slovakian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministerstvo zahraničných vecí Slovenskej republiky, MZV SR [5]), supported by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD [6]). [1] http://www.employment.gov.sk/ [2] http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/equal/index_en.cfm [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/industrial-relations-dictionary/european-social-fund [4] http://www.iom.int/ [5] http://www.mzv.sk/App/WCM/main.nsf?Open [6] http://www.oecd.org

Trade union representatives demanded an increase in the minimum wage from SKK 8,100 (€269 as at 18 December 2008) to SKK 8,900 (€295.40) a month. The unions argued that the difference between the existing minimum wage level and the level of social benefits was so small that it did not motivate people to work. However, employers refused to accept the trade unions’ demand. According to the National Union of Employers (Republiková únia zamestnávateľov, RÚZ SR [1]), such a minimum wage level would be higher than the performance of the Slovakian economy actually allows. [1] http://www.ruzsr.sk/