As has been the custom recently, the trade unions have stormed out of tripartite talks with the government and employers.
The trade union representatives at the session walked out because they feel that previous agreements from June have not been respected or implemented. Head of the Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) Vladimir Mojs said at a press conference afterwards that the government has been ignoring the previous outcomes of talks, calling it “arrogant”.
KOZ is not happy with how the revision of 110 laws deal with pensions, healthcare and education, for instance, and so they are hoping that either labour minister Jozef Mihal or PM Iveta Radicova will smarten up and provide them with some guarantees.
The trade unions could therefore decide not to take part in any future tripartite talks, and the latest walkout has been slammed by employers’ association RUZ as having political undertones thanks to a co-operation agreement signed with Robert Fico’s opposition party Smer-SD. Head of RUZ Martin Hostak believes that the impetus for the breakdown in talks is to create civil discontent.
Hostak does not think the trade union heads have the support of common employees to do what they are doing, and labour minister Mihal also saw no reason for the walkout. They will now try to reconvene talks on 12 September.