Dell Slovakia building on Fazuľová Street in Bratislava in 2007. (source: TASR)
Several months before firms like Johnson Controls and AT&T announced, in 2021, that they would lay off hundreds of workers in Slovakia, Dell’s employees in Bratislava had established its trade union organisation, Technologies Unions Slovakia, to defend their interests and rights.
A global tech company, Dell runs one of the largest business service centres in Slovakia. About 2,800 people work there.
Back then, the co-founder of the trade union, Daniel Andráško, claimed that the company wasn’t supportive of their activities. Three years ago, they demanded higher severance pay, the right to a paid sabbatical and extraordinary medical examinations from the employer. The conflict has now resulted in the company reportedly using “brute force to break the unions in its Slovak branch”, trade unionists have said.
Dell’s Bratislava branch said that an official statement could only be given by its HQ in the USA. Dell hasn’t provided any comment on the issue.
Last year, the firm said that it would sack more than 6,000 employees around the world.
