Archive of articles - April 2001, page 3

Western-style business schooling a hit

Preparing managers for what experts say is growing competition on the Slovak market, two international schools - City University Bratislava Foundation, and Bratislava's Comenius University - have said they are becoming more frequently used by Slovak and international firms to train workers.Both Slovak and international business leaders say the need to improve and learn has increased, and that the honing of managerial skills means much more than it ever did under the past regime. Despite the high costs of such training, more and more Slovaks are signing up for management courses run by the two schools, believing the western management skills they will be taught will keep them a step ahead in the job market.

News Briefs

Nationalist party boss wedded to RussianRobert Fico tops popularity polls againFriends of the Earth: shop bags should be soldJapan to open an embassy in Bratislava

Politicians put cronyism on public display through hires

Slovak members of parliament say their jobs have gotten a lot easier since the beginning of 2001. Four months since approving a law giving every MP the right to hire a personal assistant, all but 13 of the country's 150 MPs have chosen helpers. However, a brief look at the names of the assistants suggests that personal relationships could be the decisive criterion behind many MPs' selections.Following the criticism their Czech colleagues faced for employing their wives and other family relatives as assistants early last year, Slovak MPs, when discussing the law on assistants in December 2000, included a clause saying that assistants could not be related by blood to any MP.However, while close family cannot be employed in the positions, it appears that close colleagues and friends can, with many politicians taking on former party employees or 'friendly journalists'. The jobs come with attractive salaries, by Slovak standards: 27,000 Slovak crowns ($585) a month, almost two and a half times the national average wage, paid from taxpayer money.

This Week

Key is avoiding dodgy hires

Anton Vačko, HR director for AssiDoman Štúrovo, says that attracting people to work close to the Hungarian border is difficult not only given the city's distance from the "happening centre" of Slovakia, but also due to confusion over whether employees will have to speak Hungarian.The Slovak Spectator (TSS): Is it generally easy for you to fill posts in your company?

Review: From flamenco to folk: a.ha. Theatre's live CDs

Slovak flamenco guitarist Branislav Krajčo lived for two years in Spain, where he was dubbed Flaco de Nerja. The nickname, under which he now performs, means "The thin one from Nerja". But Nerja's talent is anything but thin.On a self-titled CD recorded live at Bratislava's a.ha. Theatre - Nerja's only Slovak-released album to date - the 27 year-old guitarist displays remarkable technical dexterity and masterful sense of melody in 10 flamenco songs of varying styles and tempos, all but four of which were composed by the guitarist. The CD was released March 31 with a CD from Slovak folk singer Peter Janků as the fourth and fifth albums taken from a.ha.Theatre's monthly acoustic concert evenings.

Blood: Thicker than job qualifications

Jana is 21 and secretary to the general director of a state-owned company in eastern Slovakia's Rožňava. In landing her job she didn't have to work her way through tough interviews, nor did she have to compete with any other candidates. Jana's aunt, who has worked for the company for over 20 years, "managed" the position for her niece by "saying a few good words about her".Nepotism, the practice of a person using his or her public power to obtain a favour - very often a job - for his or her family, in Slovakia carries the name rodinkárstvo (derived from the Slovak word rodina meaning 'family', it is loosely translated as 'familyhood').While many foreigners still express shock at meeting nepotism so frequently in business, for the majority of Slovaks it is still, as Jana's aunt says, "a normal thing".

Minister's threat to resign taken in stride

Repeating a threat she made only eight days earlier, Finance Minister Brigita Schmögnerová said on April 10 she might resign if deep tax cuts were approved over her opposition. But her dramatic words were quickly dismissed as a bluff by coalition party leader Ľudovít Kaník, who had backed the cuts.Schmögnerová, who is one of the most highly-regarded members of the Slovak cabinet abroad, and who was chosen by Euromoney magazine as Finance Minister of the Year for 2000, had first said on April 2 that she would leave her post if the tax cuts proposed by the rightist Democratic Party (DS), led by Kaník, gained parliamentary approval.But when the threat was repeated at an April 10 press conference on the abolition of Slovakia's inheritance tax, Kaník dismissed Schmögnerová's words as "not based on anything rational", and said her resignation was no more than an empty threat.

Rise, shine and get out your books

It's early Thursday morning, and six Slovak members of parliament [MPs] sit eyeing a text when a brusque, authoritative voice signals that the time for decisions has come."Are both boys going to the discotheque tonight?"The MPs glance from side to side, build consensus, and answer in unison, "Yes, yes.""Who will pay for the tickets?"Silence."Who will pay for the tickets?""Tibor will pay for the tickets," says a member of the ruling coalition Party of the Democratic Left (SDĽ), gesturing at Tibor Cabaj of the opposition Movement for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS).

Skinhead free despite conviction

Human rights lawyer Colombus Ikechukwa Igboanusi has been living in Slovakia for seven years, working with the League of Activists for the Protection of Human Rights. Although he says he has grown to love Slovakia, its people, culture and hospitality, he has begun to consider leaving the country."If I didn't have my job and my commitments towards the people who need me, I wouldn't have a single reason to stay in Slovakia," he says. "Many Africans end up leaving Slovakia because of racism, and the insufficient extent to which racism is fought."After winning - yet effectively losing - a recent court case concerning a racially-motivated beating he himself suffered, Igboanusi denounced the passive approach of Slovak police and courts towards such attacks. His anger stems from a March 28 court decision in which 17 year-old skinhead Tomáš Bugár was found guilty of committing a racially-motivated crime, yet was given no sentence.

The case of Herold versus Slovak Telecom

1990 - Telecom and Post Office state service signs contract with IMCO firm on the provision of telephone books. IMCO was to take information given by the state telecom provider, and look after advertising, printing and distribution to homes and offices until 1997.1991 - IMCO takes Telecom and Post Office to arbitrage proceedings over non-fulfillment of contract, and wins case.1992 - Supreme Court confirms arbitrage court finding. IMCO then sues its partner, and wins 16 million crowns in damages, which the firm re-invests into cooperation with the state business, now called Slovenské telekomunikácie (ST). At the same time, the IMCO-ST contract is amended to include penalties if either side fails to meet conditions; the fines amount to 500 crowns per day, with the total fine to increase five-fold every three months if it is not settled. IMCO's contract is extended to 2004.

A new approach to workplace boozing

Anton Jura, personnel manager at steel-maker US Steel Košice, says his firm has decided to tackle what he describes as one of the company's most overlooked problems - alcoholism in the workplace."There is a problem with alcohol in our plant, but the issue is often avoided as if it didn't exist," he said. "We want to throw some light on it, and help some of our employees, not just do what we did in the past - take strict, repressive measures against workers."Soon, a team of the company's top executive officers, who stepped into their posts after the American steel-maker US Steel took over Slovak firm VSŽ at the end of November last year, will be trying to bring a more understanding, yet low-tolerance approach to drinking on the job.

Around Slovakia

Drug addict apprehended by police twice in one dayCelebrated British writer pays a visitTwo World War II grenades defusedThief steals 30 motor and electric chain sawsForest burnt down near Kamienka village

Monopoly's FWA bid endangers competition

The decision to allow telecoms monopoly Slovak Telecom to bid in an upcoming tender for three FWA (fixed wireless access) licences has raised fears that the stated goal of increasing competition on the market may be in jeopardy.FWA services would allow users to bypass 'last mile' phone cables (those physically joining end users to local phone hubs) by sending communication signals via radiowave from a nearby transmitter. With Slovak Telecom (ST) owning the country's last mile connections, the FWA licences were expected to give customers an alternative to renting the cables from ST, thus creating competition.Market regulator the Telecoms Office had said at the beginning of the year that the aim of the FWA tender would be to increase competition, and that ST would therefore be barred from participating.

Community Corner

Bratislava Town GallerySpanish Embassy film festivalItalian Institute Film FestivalApril Hash RunAustrian Culture CentreSocial Centre in PiešťanyThe Austrian and Goethe InstituteAustrian Culture Centre seminar and exhibitionGoethe Institute exhibitions

The CDI Radio Case

1989 - Czechoslovak state radio and the Vienna-based firm Drehscheibe sign agreement for the latter to broadcast on 101.8 MHz for 20 hours a day serving parts of Slovakia, northern Austria and Vienna.March 1990 - Broadcasts begin of channel named 'Rádio CD International'. Drehscheibe provides all advertising, programming etc. for broadcasts, which it prepares for SRo, rather than renting the frequency itself.1993 - Newly formed Slovak Radio (SRo) takes over contract, now between SRo and firm named CDI Holding, which was the result of a fusion with Drehscheibe.

Too much politics? Slovaks can't afford not to care

The Slovak daily paper Pravda has a new editor-in-chief, Petr Šabata from the successful Czech daily Mlada fronta dnes. In one of his first public pronouncements on the Slovak media scene, Šabata said he thought Slovak media wrote far too much about politics."[Slovak journalists write about] who said what, how the other side reacted... It's amazing how Slovak journalists write about every piece of nonsense which falls from a politician's lips. That hasn't been done in the Czech Republic for a long time. Journalists there have understood that people aren't interested."Šabata's intent to have his new Slovak paper carry what does interest people has already seemingly found an echo in Pravda's main competition for 'serious' readers, the daily paper Sme. But it does not seem to have provoked any discussion of why Slovak journalists are so fascinated with politics, and whether people who read Slovak news really care.

Whips and water: Easter in Slovakia

Easter morning was always stressful for Jarmila Holková. Her father woke her at 6:00 a.m. by pouring cold water on her face, and for the next six hours, young men would come to her flat, drag her outside, douse her with buckets of water and whip her with wicker sticks. 

Business Briefs

Slovalco to invest $93.5 million in productionUSX looks for higher stake in steel firm VSŽFinance Ministry expecting VÚB, IRB sales in JuneSmer accepts offer of SPP sale commission seat