Social Services, Transparency & Corruption, Slovak Republic, Moldova, Malta, Armenia

Following the large demonstration in October in support of a pay rise for public service workers, unions are angry and disappointed that the government has failed to respond. Marián Magdoška, president of the KOZ trade union confederation said that unions were presented with the budget for 2022 a day before a tripartite meeting and realised that, despite promises from last year, it didn’t include any provisions to cover even a pay rise to compensate for inflation. The health union is also angry that in negotiations at the end of October the government was effectively blackmailing unions by

Social workers organised by the UHM Voice of the Workers trade union have been taking industrial action in support of negotiations for a new collective agreement. The action consists of a range of measures that affect non-emergency work across the service but it maybe stepped up if there is no progress in the negotiations. With many staff leaving the service, the union is looking for a deal to increase pay but also to provide continuing professional development.

In the first of a series of three meetings over a thousand public service workers gathered in Košice to discuss pay in the public sector. The unions are calling for action on minimum salaries and a pay system that recognises workloads, levels of education and length of service of public service workers. Two further meetings are planned as part of this broad trade union consultation process - one in Banská Bystrica on 16 November and the final one in Bratislava on 23 November.

The KOZ trade union confederation is planning three events in three different cities in November to address major problems related to public sector pay. The confederation is calling on all its affiliates to support the initiative and discuss the way forward. KOZ argues that an unfair pay system, including pay rates that are below the national minimum wage is failing to ensure that public service workers are properly rewarded and means that many skilled workers are leaving to find better paid work elsewhere.