Emerging from a meeting on September 2, the leadership of the Trade Unions Confederation (KOZ), an organised labour umbrella group, gave the go-ahead for a protest rally to be staged in Bratislava on September 25. KOZ president Ivan Saktor said that if the government fails to concede to demands of the unions even after the September protest, labour groups will simply step up their campaign.
The unions say that despite the declared intentions of the government, no compensatory measures have been adopted to ease the impact of economic austerity measures on workers. Trade unions have demanded, for example, that income tax be lowered.
The KOZ has already started preparations for a major protest rally in Bratislava that is expected to attract 50,000 people from all around Slovakia.