Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05BRATISLAVA537
2005-07-11 11:54:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Bratislava
Cable title:  

UNION LEADERS ON PARTNERSHIP WITH SMER, DECLINING

Tags:  PGOV ELAB LO 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000537 

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR DRL/IL
DOL FOR ILAB
INFO ADDRESSEES FOR LABOR OFFICERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ELAB LO
SUBJECT: UNION LEADERS ON PARTNERSHIP WITH SMER, DECLINING
POPULARITY, AND DISTRUST OF REFORMS

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET

UNCLAS BRATISLAVA 000537

SIPDIS


SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR DRL/IL
DOL FOR ILAB
INFO ADDRESSEES FOR LABOR OFFICERS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ELAB LO
SUBJECT: UNION LEADERS ON PARTNERSHIP WITH SMER, DECLINING
POPULARITY, AND DISTRUST OF REFORMS

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET


1. (SBU) Summary: Slovakia's Confederation of Trade Unions
(KOZ) has lost nearly half of its membership since 1993, and
its leadership is both upset and threatened by recent
government economic reforms. During a recent meeting with
Poloffs, KOZ leaders discussed their decision to work
closely with opposition political party Smer. KOZ hopes
that Smer's high polling numbers will translate into
favorable results in the 2006 parliamentary elections, and
that having more "friends" in parliament will allow them to
better protect their interpretation of worker's rights (an
interpretation at odds in some ways with EU labor
standards). Meanwhile, KOZ continues to lose members due to
its inability to represent their concerns and its alienation
from the current government. End Summary.

KOZ LOSES ITS PLACE AT THE TABLE...
--------------


2. (SBU) In early June, Poloffs met with KOZ President Ivan
Saktor, Vice President Eugen Skultety, and office manager
Pavel Lascek. Both Saktor and Skultety immediately
complained about what they consider "right wing" government
actions, which have had a negative impact on workers and
people with low incomes. For instance, they cited
legislation in 2003 and 2004 that ended KOZ representation
on the boards of public institutions, such as social
insurance, the National Labor Office, and general health
insurance. In addition, a January 2005 law did away with
the "Tripartite Commission" (the Economic and Social
Agreement Council--RHSD). This body included seven
representatives from KOZ, employers' organizations, and the
government and was charged with setting Slovakia's
employment regulations, including establishing minimum wages
and standardizing work weeks. It was replaced with the non-
binding "Tripartite Council," which Saktor said is only an
advisory body for the government, based on "gentlemen's
agreements" and with no real power.

...AND TURNS TO SMER FOR HELP
--------------


3. (SBU) Having allied itself closely with then-coalition
parties SDL (the socialist "Party of the Democratic Left")
and HZDS ("Movement for a Democratic Slovakia," in the post-
independence period the party of then-Prime Minister

Vladimir Meciar),KOZ found itself alienated after the 1998
elections which removed HZDS from power. Worried about the
Dzurinda government's plan to liberalize labor laws if re-
elected in 2002, KOZ made hectic attempts to mobilize
workers against the government in the 2002 parliamentary
elections. Though it received USAID-funded assistance from
the AFL-CIO from 1997-2000, specifically in the areas of
representation, voter education, and membership, the
organization still found itself "soul searching" in post-
communist Slovakia.


4. (SBU) KOZ told us that it has developed a new strategy
for September 2006 parliamentary elections: court the
support of an opposition political party, work behind the
scenes, and hope the party supports the KOZ agenda after
elections. Saktor said the KOZ leadership decided to
nurture connections with Robert Fico's Smer ("Direction")
party, with the hope that Smer's high polling numbers would
translate into election success. Saktor told poloffs that
KOZ does not plan to use tactics such as the April 2004
referendum on early elections, nor mass protests against the
government, as those previous strategies proved detrimental
to KOZ's goals. (Comment: They also directly contributed to
the government's decision to abolish the Tripartite
Commission.)


5. (SBU) Although KOZ leadership has now placed all bets on
Smer, its general membership decided at the November 2004
congress not to support Smer exclusively, in part because
many KOZ members remain loyal supporters of Meciar. KOZ
then sent questionnaires to all parliamentary parties to
discuss potential cooperation. Prime Minister Dzurinda's
SDKU party responded that it will continue pro-market
economic reforms. The communist party KSS was more
enthusiastic, responding that it was ready to support any
and all KOZ policy suggestions. Smer, Saktor said,
responded with a thorough and well-developed outline of
potential areas of cooperation with KOZ, and a party
representative has since been participating in KOZ meetings
(and vice versa).



6. (SBU) The allegiance to Smer may prove to be problematic
for KOZ. There is a strong pro-business wing within Smer,
which Saktor acknowledged, and many of the party's movers
and shakers represent exactly the upper management types of
which KOZ is wary.


7. (SBU) The political affiliation and party preferences of
KOZ's declining membership (currently 570,000 people, down
from 1.2 million in 1993) generally reflect those of the
population at large. KOZ leaders are now trying to motivate
their members to support Smer by regularly preparing and
disseminating voting records on important labor topics, and
their analyses of the impact of recent economic reforms.
Saktor said KOZ leaders would not run on the candidate lists
of any party, as their prior experience with this approach
was "not good."

WARY OF ECONOMIC REFORMS
--------------


8. (SBU) KOZ still plays upon concern, fear, and anger about
Slovakia's economic situation. Jobs created through the
government's economic reforms are not distributed evenly
through the country, and many regions still suffer from high
unemployment and general dissatisfaction. KOZ calculated
that the 2004/2005 economic reforms (which temporarily
increased the prices of gas and electricity, and permanently
raised the cost of transportation, health care, etc.) will
cost an average Slovak family around USD 500 a year. KOZ
plans to use these figures in campaigns targeting their
members as well as the general population. On the other
hand, they are against other "pro-worker" policies. For
example, KOZ is fighting the EU's cap on weekly work hours
(48 working hours in Slovakia),as well as proposals to
close shops on Saturdays and Sundays, as both proposals are
extremely unpopular among affected workers (Slovaks argue
that due to low wages, they should be able to work more than
one job - and thus more than 48 hours per week - to make
ends meet).

WHO'S WHO IN THE KOZ LEADERSHIP
--------------


9. (U) The current leadership of KOZ is: Ivan Saktor,
President; Eugen Skultety, Vice President for Labor Policy;
Vladimir Mojs, Vice President for Economic Policy and Social
Partnership; Jozef Schmidt, Vice President for Production
Union Associations; Jan Gasperan, Vice President for Non-
production Union Associations.


10. (SBU) COMMENT: Despite the efforts in the late 1990's of
both USAID and the AFL-CIO to transform KOZ from a
mandatory, communist union to one based upon representation,
KOZ has walked and quacked too much like a political party,
resulting in its alienation from the current ruling
coalition and thereby becoming less effective at its
mission. As its membership continues to decline and EU
labor policies become more commonplace, KOZ may eventually
face a crossroads at which it either drastically changes the
way it does business, or fades from the scene altogether.

THAYER


NNNN