Representatives of trade unions walked out of a session of the tripartite, their meeting with government officials and employers' organisations, on September 5, claiming that the decisions agreed on at the previous meeting have not been put into practice.
"The government is ignoring the approved outcomes of tripartite negotiations," said Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) Vice President Vladimír Mojš as quoted by TASR newswire.
Mojš claimed that comments presented by trade unions concerning the law on recreation for employees, which were approved at a session in the summer, were not included in the final legislative proposal.
KOZ at the same time criticised laws adopted so far in the spheres of pensions, welfare, health care and education. The unions say that they are now waiting for guarantees to be provided by Labour Minister Jozef Mihál of Freedom and Solidarity or Prime Minister Iveta Radičová.
The Labour Ministry has said the decision by trade union members to walk out of the session of the tripartite was an irresponsible step.
"I view it as absolutely irresponsible when one of the social partners did what they did today," said Labour Ministry State Secretary Lucia Nicholsonová on September 5, as quoted by TASR.
The step that was taken by the trade union members on September 5 must be viewed within a certain political framework and also as part of a signed agreement on co-operation with Smer, Martin Hošťák from the Republic Union of Employers (RÚZ) told TASR. He thinks that the aim of leaving the tripartite would be to provoke unrest in society and prevent the adoption of reforms.
"We don't see any deeper meaning for this and it's questionable whether the trade union bosses have the support of ordinary employees," said Hošťák.
In December, 2010, KOZ did walk out of a session of the commission for drawing up a new version of the Labour Code after what KOZ vice-chairman Vladimír Mojš called the Labour Ministry's failure to come up with a coherent set of proposed changes.
Source: TASR
