KOZ: Scrapping Public Holidays Will Be Reflected in Drop in Employees' Incomes

Bratislava, 3 June (TASR) - The scrapping of public holidays will also remove bonuses for working on these days from employees' payroll slips, the Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) has posted on a social network, adding that employees will thus work for a standard average salary and their incomes will decrease. Fewer holidays will mean more hours worked, and the whole measure will come at the expense of workers, stated KOZ. "Slovakia's economic model is still built on low salaries and a high number of hours worked. There is still the widespread misconception that the more hours we work, the more productive we are," specified KOZ. According to KOZ, Slovakia is a country of long work shifts and low salaries. As many as 11.2 percent of people work at night. Of the total employed population, 15.8 percent work on Saturdays, 12.2 percent on Sundays and 23.3 percent of employees work in shifts. Slovaks work 39.6 hours per week on average, while the EU average is 37.1 hours. The trade unions stated that, compared to other European countries, Slovakia still lags behind in productivity and average salaries, which means that many people have to work longer, often at non-standard times. They view this situation as unsustainable in the long run, as it threatens the health and quality of life of employees. Instead of increasing the workload, the state should focus on sustainable solutions that will improve working conditions and productivity and make the country more competitive, stressed KOZ. "Slovakia should be inspired by countries that have managed to increase salaries without increasing the number of hours worked. They did so through investment in education, employee training and modernising work procedures, which has much greater potential than scrapping holidays and reducing opportunities to rest," stated KOZ. ko/df