EMPLOYEES of the Banská Bystrica-based state enterprise Letecké opravovne (Aircraft Repair Service) LOBB on August 8 threatened to go on strike, the TASR news wire reported.
The strike alert is a reaction to the management's proposal to make almost one third of the current 169 employees redundant as of October 1, 2005. LOBB employees have asked Defence Minister Juraj Liška to sack the head of the company.
"The mass lay-off is set to affect 53 people, mostly ordinary workers. According to the management, the reasons for the move include the company's alarming financial situation and its redundant production facilities," LOBB Trade Union chief Rudolf Porubský told the TASR news agency.
"The mass redundancy will paralyse the whole company, communication between individual departments will break down, and the company will become partially dysfunctional," he said.
LOBB employees will continue to threaten strike action until the defence ministry, as the original founder of the company, comments on the situation. If it does not act, they will begin an actual strike.
According to LOBB head Dušan Turý, among the reasons for the mass redundancies is the company's poor financial situation caused by a rapid decrease in production in 2004 and 2005, mostly in the company's main field of activity - providing services to the Slovak Armed Forces.
Compiled by Magdalena MacLeod from press reports
TheSlovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the informationpresented in its Flash News postings.
