Five trade union organisations join forces

Five trade union organisations founded a new trade union confederation called 'Joint Trade Unions of Slovakia' (SOS) on Wednesday. As the SME daily commented the formation, "workers of Volkswagen are united with workers in health care and policemen". The founding members are Modern Trade Union AIOS, Modern Trade Union Volkswagen, the Nurses and Midwives Trade Union, the New Police Trade Union and the New School Trade Union. Thus, the monopoly of the Trade Union Confederation (KOZ), the largest union body in Slovakia is over. "We don't want to engage in competition with the KOZ, just to act as its counterbalance in defending employees' rights, said Monika Kavecká, head of the Nurses and Midwives Trade Union. The advantage of the new confederation is that it is not burdened with the past, stated the lawyer of the new Union Marek Švec.