Dell Slovakia sacks trade union officials, faces accusation of using 'brute force'
The tech company is believed to have violated the Labour Code.
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Read more: https://spectator.sme.sk/c/23282122/dell-slovakia-sacks-trade-union-officials-faces-accusation-of-using-brute-force.html
Several months before firms like Johnson Controls and AT&T announced, in 2021, that they would lay off hundreds of workers in Slovakia, Dell’s employees in Bratislava had established its trade union organisation, Technologies Unions Slovakia, to defend their interests and rights.
A global tech company, Dell runs one of the largest business service centres in Slovakia. About 2,800 people work there.
Back then, the co-founder of the trade union, Daniel Andráško, claimed that the company wasn’t supportive of their activities. Three years ago, they demanded higher severance pay, the right to a paid sabbatical and extraordinary medical examinations from the employer. The conflict has now resulted in the company reportedly using “brute force to break the unions in its Slovak branch”, trade unionists have said.
Dell’s Bratislava branch said that an official statement could only be given by its HQ in the USA. Dell hasn’t provided any comment on the issue.
Last year, the firm said that it would sack more than 6,000 employees around the world.
Trade union founders sacked
The Slovak trade union has said that four members of their 10-member board, who are responsible for collective bargaining, had their job positions cancelled. Another two members have already been dismissed.
One of those fired is Technologies Unions Slovakia chair Andráško. He had overseen the union’s communication. The former chair was dismissed at the end of January.
According to a legal analysis drawn up for the union, Dell has violated the Labour Code. Through a petition, unionists are now calling on Dell to start complying with the law.
“The approach by the management of the Dell Slovak branch fundamentally contradicts democratic values in the rule of law of the European Union, which is contrary to our values and expectations,” the union writes in the petition. According to unionists, Dell is trying to “intimidate and suppress the union and send a signal to all unionised employees to keep quiet.”
Technologies Unions Slovakia sees three problems in Dell’s approach to laying off Andráško: Dell didn’t receive any consent from the union and the European Works Council to dismiss a board member (Labour Code requirements), and a labour office refused to approve Dell’s decision to sack Andráško due to his disability (again, the consent is a Labour Code requirement).
Andráško has been the chair of the European Works Council since 2018.
Expert agrees with unionists
Pavol Kundrik from CMS Slovensko law firm has said that the Labour Code increasingly protects the representatives of employees against termination of employment by the employer, so that trade unionists can perform their activities without fear of potential penalties from the employer.
He also agrees with the arguments presented by the trade union.
But the protection of trade unionists is not limitless. The Labour Code allows for the ‘replacement’ of missing consent if the ‘other’ conditions for termination or the immediate termination of employment are met. However, only the court can decide whether the employer shall be required to continue employing the employee in this case.
Another problem is that the Labour Code is vague. It does not say in what cases an employee cannot demand that their dismissal be reversed. Theft could be such a reason.
“This is always a matter for the court to assess. In the event of a lawsuit, the employer would have to convince the court that such an action really took place in a given case,” said the lawyer.
Regardless, according to Kundrik, the circumstances of the dismissal would have to be very serious in order for Dell’s action, which lacks all of the above consents, to be defensible in the event of a lawsuit.