Archive of articles - September 2001, page 2

Quotes of the Week

IBM bets on skilled, cheap labour

Doffing its cap to a skilled domestic labour force and the high reputation of its Slovak operation, American information technology giant IBM in June this year chose Bratislava as the site of a $5 million service and sales centre covering five central European countries. The investment increased the funds the firm has committed to the country since 1995 to $10 million.Although IBM already has seven international service outlets here, the new Bratislava facility is its largest in the country, and the first in Slovakia to deal directly with customers. The centre provides information over the telephone to IBM clients in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, offering information on IBM products and sales support. The centre supplements the firm's 24-hour web-based shopping service, and is one of four such operations IBM runs in Europe.IBM chose Slovakia after studying the labour markets in all five central European countries the 'call centre' was to serve. The company found that Slovakia, with its 18% unemployment rate, was able to meet its immediate needs for skilled, language-proficient and cheap labour.

Reader Feedback: Where was Slovakia's wartime saviour?

OTP bank's final offer to be judged within week

Media upbraided for harming victims

Psychologists, social workers and NGO representatives say they are getting tired of the cavalier fashion in which the domestic media approaches protecting the identities of women and children who are the victims of abuse."We once allowed a Slovak television station to film women in our club," said Jana Štúrová, psychologist and head of Centre Hope in Bratislava's Petržalka, which helps women and children victims of violence. "Their eyes were covered and their voices changed, but two of the seven women were still recognised by their violent husbands. One was beaten as a result, the other suffered verbal violence."Štúrová was speaking at a Bratislava conference September 26 dedicated to the portrayal of victims of domestic violence in the media.

Reader Feedback: Blame and insinuation over US deaths is absurd

Coalition again calm as powers bill passed

In a classic example of killing two birds with one stone, parliament on September 20 approved a bill ceding over 300 central state powers to local authorities. The 'competence bill', as the draft was known, represented a major step towards decentralising state authority in Slovakia, a goal urged by the European Union; it also satisfied the demands of the ethnic Hungarian SMK party that the ruling coalition keep its promise to bring government closer to Slovak citizens.More than 200 changes to the bill had been proposed during a three-day debate in the legislature, leaving even regional reform experts unsure as to what exact measures had been approved. In the final vote, 80 out of the 136 members of parliament (MPs) present in the 150-seat chamber supported the competence bill, while three voted against and 53 abstained.The bill, whose passage in turn requires the revision of more than 20 related laws, specifies which state powers are to be passed down to municipalities and eight newly created regional parliaments in Slovakia's continuing reform of public administration. It is to take effect January 1, 2002.

Questionaire

Biological agents handled at Imuna?

Fitch: Cabinet should slow down on SPP sale

First BSE case feared

Corrupt bureaucrat busted in police sting

Slovnaft takes new credit line

SDĽ about-face on SPP causes uproar

SMK officially to remain in government

Čarnogurský blocks nuclear plant closure

Devín refunds to begin in November

SDĽ party objects to SPP sale

‘All’s well that ends well’ – Dzurinda to EU