Slovakia

On 4 February 2021, the Slovak Parliament adopted amendments to the Labour Code which severely undermined trade unions in the country by modifying the rules regarding trade union presence at the workplace and by gravely interfering in trade unions’ freedoms to establish their own statutes and rules, to elect their representatives and to organise their activities.

These changes, which were adopted without prior consultations with the unions, were purposefully adopted to weaken the position of the Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic (KOZSR) as the most representative body in tripartite dialogue and to allow access to completely non-representative workers’ organisations, especially those in favour of the Ministry of Labour.

In Slovakia, Amazon warehouses were under surveillance, as the company analysed "security risks" including “labour organisation and trade union presence”. Data collected included the number of attendees at each protest, how well strikes were followed and even whether leaflets were being handed out. Other intelligence activities included the creation of fake social media profiles to investigate employees leading protests and infiltrating Facebook groups.

On 4 February 2021, the Slovak Parliament adopted amendments to the Labour Code which severely undermined collective bargaining in the country. Under the new provisions, which were not discussed with unions prior to their adoption, the extension of higher-level collective agreements was prohibited. Only agreements concluded before 1 March 2021 stayed in place until their expiry. These amendments will have a disastrous impact on collective bargaining coverage in Slovakia, which currently lags at 26 per cent.