BRATISLAVA, September 14, (WEBNOVINY) — The government of SMER-SD is coming up with measures that will accelerate growth of unemployment and along with others that the government has implemented or plans to enforced in the future, it is mixing lethal cocktail for the Slovak economy and its growth. Ludovit Kanik, MP for the opposition SDKU-DS said this at a joint press conference of four center-right opposition parties (SDKU-DS, SaS, MOST-HID, KDH) on Friday. As he continued, the proposed amendment to the Labor Code now debated in parliament is another nail in the coffin of growth of the Slovak economy. According to him, as a result of this upcoming change, along with others in the complex of government’s measures, in the near future 80,000 to 100,000 people will lose their jobs.
„Unemployment will rise, economic growth will slow, and Slovakia’s competitiveness will further deteriorate. We will do everything in the second reading of the revised Labor Code to at least defuse its most harmful provisions when we cannot completely stop it,“ promised Kanik.
According to Laszlo Solymos from MOST-HID, the government is moving in the opposite direction than the current economic situation would require. „Instead more flexibility of the labor market, this amendment limits available options and increases rigidity,“ he said and added that the amendment will only suit trade union bosses.
Julius Brocka of KDH said that even before the amended Labor Code became effective it has already contributed to rising unemployment in Slovakia. „Many employers are considering layoffs to get rid of people for whom they do not have work today, because it is cheaper to do it now. They therefore plan layoffs before the end of the year,“ warned Brocka. His most prominent argument against the proposed Labor Code is that it is helping neighboring countries and harming Slovakia by giving our neighbors a comparative advantage. KDH will suggest delaying effectiveness of the amended Labor Code by one year.
Neoliberal SaS will not support the Labor Code either. MP and former Labor Minister for SaS Josef Mihal considers the current wording of the Labor Code, adopted during his term in office as good and balanced in terms of flexibility of labor relations. „The current Labor Code helped create thousands of new jobs. Therefore, we think it should be left as it is and not changed,“ said Mihal. The opposition MPs also announced that they are ready to offer a number of improvements to the proposed Labor Code amendment in the second reading.
SITA