Petra Podhorcová

Petra Podhorcová Spokeswoman Vyštudovala žurnalistiku na Filozofickej fakulte Univerzity Komenského. Má dlhoročné skúsenosti s prácou v najväčších slovenských printových, televíznych a rozhlasových médiách. Ako hovorkyňa RÚZ zodpovedá za komunikáciu organizácie s verejnosťou a médiami. Aktuálnym obsahom denne napĺňa aj sociálne siete RÚZ.

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Press & Comms

Press and communications tlacove@ruzsr.sk +421 2 33014280 The PR and Comms Department is responsible for the external communication of NUE with the media and ...

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ATYPICAL: Employee Involvement of Atypical Workers in the Service Sector

#social dialogue

Petra Podhorcová

The Second European Workshop was held in Malaga, Spain, on December 14-15, 2023, bringing together representatives from various European organizations.

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Innovative and competitive Slovakia: use our food industry and use the benefits of digitization to your advantage?

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The development of digitization and automation is significantly changing the functioning of most economic sectors. At the same time, it sets new requirements for the skills of employees. The question of success in the process of digital transformation is the degree of readiness of all of us - businesses, households and the state. The current challenges facing Slovakia in this area and the possibilities of deepening the government's closer cooperation with the social partners were the subject of today's interactive workshop of the National Union of Employers (NUE).

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Employers' meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Development of the war in Ukraine, the sixth sanctions package of the European Union, cutting off Slovakia and domestic companies from Russian oil, energy, the rule of law, and possible risks that threaten individual member states in connection with the escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict - those were the main topics of today's joint meeting between employers of NUE and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivan Korčok.

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Employers welcome the inclusion of nuclear energy and gas as clean energy sources

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) welcome the decision of the European Parliament (EP), which approved the inclusion of nuclear and gas among green investments. In the context of the energy crisis and the sharp increase in energy prices, which the entire European Union (EU) is currently facing, they consider this decision a step in the right direction.

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Incomes of the public sector in Slovakia have been growing rapidly for more than ten years - where to look for sources of funding for government social packages?

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

For the past thirteen years, public administration revenues in Slovakia have grown as the sixth fastest among European Union (EU) countries. Its expenses also increased significantly - the average salary of employees in the public sector increased by almost 83%. The number of state employees is constantly growing, approaching the 430,000 mark, despite the billions invested in the electronification of public administration. The tax burden on companies and wages in our country is still the highest among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The results of the analysis were prepared by the Institute of Economic and Social Analysis for the National Union of Employers (NUE).

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Employers at the meeting of the Council of Presidents of BusinessEurope

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The Presidents and CEOs of the member European employers' organizations BusinessEurope met in Brussels, where they presented their priorities for the upcoming Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union to the Belgian government. They also jointly approved the Brussels Declaration, which contains the key strategic priorities of the European employer sector for the coming period.

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The rule of law, direct communication and more effective cooperation of the government with the social partners - extraordinary tripartite negotiations brought several promises of the Prime Minister

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The circumvention of the ordinary legislative process and the adoption of key laws behind closed doors should not be repeated - this is the conclusion of an extraordinary tripartite meeting with Prime Minister Eduard Heger. Employers of associations in the National Union of Employers (NUE) welcome the Prime Minister's efforts to streamline cooperation and fully support his intention to actively participate in the negotiations of the Economic and Social Council of the Slovak Republic.

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There is another bill on the table that will not negatively affect thousands of Slovak employers

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Violation of fair rules and circumvention of the standard legislative process does not seem to end, even after repeated promises from the government. Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) draw attention to another legislative proposal that will significantly burden domestic businesses in times of crisis. According to them, the parliamentary amendment to the Labor Code, which passed the first reading in parliament without any substantive discussion, may even negatively affect overall employment in the country and individual households. Employers are therefore calling on parliamentarians and the government not to gamble with the stability of the Slovak economy and to start looking for truly systemic solutions to the crises we are currently facing.

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Deputies of Smer-SD are liquidating jobs - the changes they are promoting are the exact opposite of social policy

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) criticize the amendment to the Labor Code from the workshop of the opposition Smer-SD. They point out that the parliamentary proposal directly threatens overall employment in Slovakia and in practice may negatively affect thousands of jobs across individual sectors of the economy. Employers publicly inform the deputies that submitting such a proposal in times of crisis, without any justification or discussion, is a highly irresponsible gamble with the entire economy and human lives.

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Active cooperation is what drives us forward. However, despite this, social dialogue in Slovakia still significantly lags and requires a systemic change - both employers and unions agree.

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

On April 28th, 2023, the General Assembly of the National Union of Employers (NUE) took place. The key employer organization assessed the development of the Slovak business environment over the past year. The Prime Minister, individual ministers, representatives of trade unions, and other institutions participated in the event and openly discussed not only the legislative overload and degradation of social dialogue, which is currently a systemic problem in Slovakia, but also opportunities for improving the current situation, promoting effective cooperation, and increasing the responsibility of individual members of the tripartite.

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European employers accept the Madrid Declaration - they warn that competitive businesses is needed to ensure the economic growth of the Union

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Representatives of European employers' organizations associated in BusinessEurope met in Madrid to discuss their priorities for the upcoming Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU). The key message of the document is the need to ensure the competitiveness of European industry. In this context, the employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) point out that Slovakia, as one of the few European countries, still does not have systemic solutions to the energy crisis for heavy industry and energy-intensive enterprises.

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Joint appeal of social partners to members of parliament and the President of the Slovak Republic

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The social partners, who are part of the Economic and Social Council of the SR (tripartite), ask the members of the NR SR to stop the legislative chaos. At the current session of the parliament, the deputies will once again decide on other draft laws with a fundamentally negative impact on the business environment, employees and Slovak households. In addition, the social partners point out that almost a quarter of all laws adopted in this election period entered into force outside the standard legislative process, which is the most in Slovakia's history to date. They consider the current situation unsustainable and demand a remedy.

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Let's save Slovakian education: employers, students, the Ministry of Education and the accreditation agency are asking for funding for universities

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE), together with the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic, the Slovak Accreditation Agency for Higher Education and students represented by the Student Council of Universities call on the Ministry of Finance to increased the funding for public universities allocated from the state budget for the coming years. According to them, adequate evaluation can be a key motivating factor for schools to improve their quality.

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The e-learning platform of the “Atypical” project

#social dialogue

Petra Podhorcová

The e-learning platform of the “Atypical” project enables access to learning materials, allows for interaction, and enables progress tracking.

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A cure for acute shortage of workers? Employers' distrust in the quality of vocational school graduates? The NUE pilot project brings a solution that will help schools and graduates, but also companies

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Significant increase in the chances of graduates of secondary vocational schools to apply, a quality guarantee that will make it easier for employers to find new employees and confirm that jobseekers are trained in accordance with real labor market needs. The project brings added value to schools that are leading students to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for practice. Thanks to NUE, hundreds of the best recent high school graduates from all over Slovakia received certificates that confirm the quality of the acquired knowledge and skills this school year.

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Next year, the minimum wage will increase beyond the scope of the law

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Employers associated in the National Union of Employers, the Association of Employers' Unions and Associations of the Slovak Republic and the Association of Industrial Unions and Transport, members of the Association of Cities and Towns of Slovakia and employee representatives, associated in the Confederation of Trade Unions of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Trade Unions agreed for the first time in history on the minimum wage for the following year. The social partners took into account the current situation and the significant increase in inflation, according to them, the proposed rate should help eliminate negative impacts on Slovak households.

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Employers issued a report card to the government - the fulfillment of key promises is still missing

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The program statement of the Slovak government raised considerable expectations among employers. The long-delayed reforms and improvements in the business environment should have brought a significant improvement thanks to the comfort of the constitutional majority, which declared common goals in the parliament. The actual performance of the government's mandate falls short of expectations, not only as a result of the war in Ukraine or the pandemic. Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) evaluate the current period of governance and call on the government to speed up the implementation of key reform processes.

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"On the three" - employers issued a half-year report card to the government

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The government's program statement raised considerable expectations among employers. Thanks to the comfort of the constitutional majority, which declared common goals, the reforms and measures to improve the quality of the business environment, which had been postponed for years, were finally given the green light and brought a significant improvement. However, according to the employers, associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE), the actual performance of the government's mandate falls far short of expectations, not only because of the pandemic. After the end of the first half of the reign, the government is therefore called upon to speed up key reform processes.

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Employers criticize the amendment to the law from the workshop of the Ministry of Health: it will significantly affect the family budgets of low-income groups of the population

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

It will negatively affect the most vulnerable groups of the Slovak population and cut even more from family budgets at a time of extreme inflation - this is how employers, associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE), assess the latest amendment to the law from the Ministry of Health's workshop. In this context, they call on the government to start a professional discussion with social partners before adopting it and thus prevent negative impacts on Slovak households in times of crisis.

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Project Atypical engages atypical workers in workplace dialogue

#social dialogue

Petra Podhorcová

The Atypical project is led by the Polish Employers' Federation. It brings together nine partners from Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro to identify the needs of atypical workers and develop solutions that enable them to exercise their rights to information, consultation, and participation at the national and international level. Representatives of employers' and workers' organizations from partner countries will study different forms of employee participation in their countries to be able to develop the legal aspects of atypical employment and their effects. A 20-month project funded by the European Social Fund.

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Greenet project

#environment

Petra Podhorcová

The GREENET project aims to promote a just and green transition in the industry, energy, and transport sectors. Specifically, the project intends to strengthen capacities of cross-sectoral social partners in the sectors of industry, energy and transport and impact European social dialogue to ensure that the transition to carbon neutrality in the European Union under the risk posed by war to energy security and COVID19 are socially fair and affordable for all European citizens and workers.

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Free lunches? Populism in live broadcast - "in the eye" of a social measure as a result of paying the Slovak household

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The employers' association in the National Union of Employers' Union (NUE) sharply criticizes the amendment to the law on assistance in material need, which re-introduces the widespread provision of subsidies for school lunches. Despite the fact that the proponents of the law argue the bad economic situation and talk about targeted social assistance in times of crisis, the opposite is true. Employers point out that the state wants to obtain funding through additional taxation of selected sectors of the economy. They are considered correct actions.

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The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on workers

#covid-19

Petra Podhorcová

The COVID-19 health crisis has had a significant impact on workers. It has changed the way we work, interact and commute to our workplaces. Here are some key aspects of how the crisis has affected workers.

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Energy crisis decimates European industry: employers call on unions to take action

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The European employers associated in BusinessEurope (BE) are calling on the European Union (EU) and individual member governments to, in connection with the energy crisis, quickly start implementing systemic measures to strengthen the competitiveness of the industry. According to them, companies are currently paying the most for the lax approach and inaction of policymakers. Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) warn that it is high time to issue a call for compensation for high energy prices for the year 2022 in accordance with the agreed aid scheme for the business sector. In addition, according to them, "harmful" draft laws with negative impacts on domestic businesses are being discussed in the parliament.

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A meeting of employers from the region of Central and Eastern Europe took place in the Tatras

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

On the 19th-20th October 2023, representatives of employers' unions from Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia met in Tatranská Lomnica to discuss a number of key topics related to the business sector and industry from the perspective of the Central European region. Attention was mainly focused on the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and the direction of European politics in the new electoral period in the context of the challenges and crises that have affected the European Union (EU) and the world in the past period.

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Atypical employee participation in decision-making for atypical workers – example of the service sector

#social dialogue

Petra Podhorcová

The aim of the research project is to identify and analyze best practices for involving atypical workers in decision-making and other forms of participation in the service sector. Atypical workers are those who are employed in non-standard forms of employment, such as part-time work, temporary work, contract work, and self-employment. They are often underrepresented in employee participation initiatives, which can lead to them having less influence over their working conditions and the future of their organizations.

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Employers who finance sorted waste collection demand a meeting with the Minister of the Environment - they want to be part of the discussion on setting new rules

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Employers associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE) have fundamental reservations about the proposal of representatives of the Association of Cities and Towns of Slovakia to re-introduce minimum rates to ensure sorted waste collection. They point out that the proposal to re-adopt the decree will negatively affect the entire industry, which is also confirmed by the position of the Antimonopoly Office of the SR. In this context, NUE requests participation in the meeting of the Minister of the Environment with local governments.

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The employers met with the Minister of the Environment

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

The main topics of the meeting of employers, associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE), with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic Tomáš Taraba were Slovakia's obligations towards agreements at the level of the European Union (EU) and the implementation of key reforms in the area of the environment with an impact on the domestic business sector . During the meeting with the minister, the employers also discussed the necessity of adopting such legislative changes that minimize possible negative impacts on Slovak industry and individual businesses, and also ensure their sustainable transformation without jeopardizing their competitiveness.

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ATYPICAL: Engaging Atypical Workers in the Service Sector

#social dialogue

Petra Podhorcová

The First Online European Workshop of the "Atypical" project took place on September 28-29, 2023. This project focuses on employee involvement of atypical workers, particularly in the service sector.

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SEC-SEE PROJECT

#social dialogue

Petra Podhorcová

The overarching aim of the SEC-CEE project is to conduct a health check on sectoral social dialogue and sectoral collective bargaining system in 6 CEE countries, as well as to find out how could sectoral collective bargaining promote companies and their workforce’s adaptation to the new challenges of the post-covid world of work, in times of multiple crises.

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The introduction of selective taxes and levies distorts the entire business environment

#press releases

Petra Podhorcová

Employers, associated in the National Union of Employers (NUE), warn that the uncontrollable introduction of new selective taxes and levies for selected sectors can fundamentally threaten the stability of Slovak companies. At the same time, they emphasize that the whole country ultimately pays for non-systemic measures – businesses in the form of lower competitiveness, and households in the form of rising prices of goods and services. Therefore, they consider the current efforts to introduce a tax on sweetened beverages to be particularly questionable, which in practice will cause inflation to rise again and will have a negative impact especially on low-income groups of the population.

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Recruit4Tomorrow project

#labour market

Petra Podhorcová

The labour market and employment relationships in the EU are faced with a change of paradigm, with the population ageing and imbalances between supply and demand, which, alongside the epidemic, causes a reduction in the number of workers and the formation of new HR management approaches. Although intra-EU mobility is legally well regulated and well established, the EU labour market is experiencing a major labour shortage. Employers are seeking for labour force outside the EU; in doing so they are facing numerous challenges: administrative barriers, long procedures, language barriers, integration difficulties, mistrust of trade unions and citizens in general, etc. EU and national social partners play an important role in establishing new labour market relationships and in policy-making related to the employment of third-country nationals. The project "Encouraging employment of third-country nationals through social dialogue" will examine in detail the labour markets of participating countries and search for areas, where labour markets’ needs can be addressed through the employment of third-country nationals.

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AdultLearningROSK

#digitalization

Petra Podhorcová

The project aims to strengthen the social partners capacity from Romania and Slovakia to deal with the changing skill demands in the context of the transformation of work that accelerated with the COVID crisis. With a low rate of participation of employees in lifelong learning (LLL) and a relatively weak capacity of social partners, currently, both Romania and Slovakia have limited instruments to support a fair transition in the world of work. With the pandemic, their limited resources were shifted from strategic projects towards direct response measures (e.g., short-time work, economic recovery grants, etc.). With the view to ensure the sustainability of their efforts, Concordia and NUE aim to use some of the insights in the WorkTransitionCEE project (current implementation) and build a more coherent practice concerning LLL.

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