BRATISLAVA, November 5, (WEBNOVINY) — The Confederation of Trade Unions in Slovakia (KOZ SR) and the Associations of Employers (AZZZ) have agreed to preserve the so-called flexi-account during a meeting dedicated to forthcoming changes in the Labor Code. The flexi-account system allows a worker to remain at home with a full wage in a planned manner, which creates a negative account balance, which the worker can settle later by overtime work. As the AZZZ spokeswoman Miriam Spanikova further informed, despite largely different views of the employers and trade unions, they managed to agree on the need to improve enforcement of labor law. „Labor law senates should become a permanent instrument in the Labor Code, which would accelerate and improve the resolution of employment disputes,“ she said.
Representatives of the government, employers, and trade unions began negotiations last week at the Economic and Social Council about upcoming changes to the Labor Code. „We have agreed to create two groups. One will be a political group, bringing together leaders of the tripartite and the other working group will be composed of experts, which will include representatives of individual social partners,“ Labor Minister Jozef Mihal he said last week. The expert working group should first meet on November 15.
Proposals trade unionists and employers, according to Minister Mihal, are largely contradictory. „However, there are also proposals where consensus is easily found,“ he said. Elsewhere, this will not be so easy. Trade union representatives demand a reduction of working hours, less overtime work, and disagree with a reduction of claim to severance pay. „On the other hand, employers would like to increase working time flexibility and eliminate providing concurrently the notice period as well as severance pay,“ said Mihal. He insists that the Labor Code should be more flexible and introduce more flexible forms of working time.
According to the metalworkers trade union KOVO chief Emil Machyna, trade unions would agree to changes in the Labor Code provisions that pose serious problems for employers. „We do not think there are any, but if employers raise them, we are willing to discuss them,“ he said last week. He admitted that a change could occur, for example in the definition of dependent work, to which the trade unions would agree. „Maybe we could consider not to increase wages and shorten working hours or overtime work to create new jobs,“ said Machyna.
The National Association of Employers (RUZ), according to its Secretary Martin Hostak, presented at the tripartite negotiations its opinion that the Labor Code should be as brief as possible. „The Labor Code should leave as much space as possible for individual agreements between the employer and the employee and it should be understandable,“ he said. AZZZ Vice President Rastislav Machunka calls for simplified layoffs. „The simpler and cheaper we can dismiss an employee, the more willing we will be able to also hire employees and create new jobs,“ he said.
SITA