KOVO: Salary Convergence with Western Europe Is Slovakia's Priority

Bratislava, September 22 (TASR) - It's unrealistic to expect that salaries in Slovakia will level up with western Europe within a few years, said vice-chair of Slovak metallurgy trade union KOVO Monika Benedekova at a joint conference with Germany's IG Metall in Bratislava on Friday. "Salary convergence, i.e. a gradual levelling up of eastern Europe with western Europe, is Slovakia's priority," said Benedekova. Nevertheless, if the current pace of salary convergence is maintained, this may last even hundreds of years, noted Benedekova. "The fact that [workers in western Europe] engage in negotiations on the level of the entire sector and another fact that 80-90 percent of staff are organised in trade unions represent a force that make their salaries growing perhaps even faster than in Slovakia," she said. "If negotiations are held on the level of the entire sector, with, say, 700,000 employees joining a warning strike, the effect goes across the board and it's quite different than if it's declared just in a single company," added Benedekova. bub