Slovakia

Austrian multinational hunts down trade unionists

www.socialistworld.net, 02/02/2005
website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI

Neusiedler/Mondi bussiness paper SCP a.s. takes legal action against workers involved in setting up a trade union.

cwi online, Wednesday 2 February 2005.

Jozef Krncan has been made redundant twice by Austrian based multinational Neusiedler/Mondi. Neusiedler/Mondi has a paperfactory in Ruzomberok, Slovakia. The company sacked him in September 2004 for organising a petition demanding higher wages. At that time Jozef was a representative of the ‘official’ trade union KOZ and a member of the KOZ shopstewards committee in the factory. He had to discover that the trade union official of KOZ had countersigned his redundancy notice handed out by management on the shopstewards committee. As a reaction to this betrayal by KOZ a group of workers started organising a new trade union, ZOO Papier. Management at Neusiedler sacked another 13 workers whom they suspected where involved in setting up this trade union.

Yesterday Jozef Krncan was sacked the second time by Neusiedler Mondi. After his first redundancy he found a new job as a skilled printer at the Texicom textile printing factory in Ruzomberok. Yesterday the factory management sacked him after pressure from Neusiedler Mondi on the German owner of Texicom, Mr Koch. The textile printing factory was not obliged to give a precise reason for making him redundant because the 6 months trial period was not over yet. Jozef has already heard of the regular phonecalls made by Neusiedler management to his new employer and the foreman confirmed to Jozef that Mr. Koch was put under huge pressure. The textile printing factory and Mr Koch personnaly have outstanding debts to pay to Mondi.

The board of directors of Neusiedler reads like a who’s who of Austrian capitalism. Veit Sorger, who presides the supervisory board of the Neusiedler factory in Ruzomberok, is when in Vienna the well respected president of the ‘Industriellenvereinigung’ (or IV) one of the main employersfederations. The Industriellenvereinigung is one of the main partners in the social partnership agreement between the Austrian government, the trade unions and the empoyers. In Austria he is known as very ‘unfriendly’ to workers. In Slovakia they know him as someone who will break the law to prevent workers from organising.

The new trade union, ZOO Papier, that these workers have set up is perfectly legal according to Slovakian labour law and has been recognised as such by the Slovakian Labour and Social Affairs ministery. Yet the management refuses to come to the negotiation table. Instead they prefer intimidation. When on the 8 of November 2004 over 120 workers walked out of the morning shift top to protest against management’s sacking of supporters of the new union they where met by management who took photographs. The same thing happened at another protest.

The five workers who organised the petition demanding higher wages have been taken to court by management. They received the invitation for a first hearing of the case on Monday 31 January. Mondi bussiness papier SCP is sueing them for damaging the company’s name. It demands a public apology and 20 million Slovak Kroner (Euro 525,469 or £363,016) in damages.

Send letters of protest

We urgently urge everyone to start sending letters of protest to the CEO of the factory Mr. Otto Pichler. You can phone him and make a very vocal protest about what has been happening.

Please send letters of protest to the Industriellenvereinigung in Vienna Austria and organise action outside sales offices and factories of Neusiedler/Mondi worldwide. Underneath you will find a list of addresses and telephone numbers.

Please send copies of your letters to CWI@worldsoc.co.uk and if possible send messages of support to sativa@zoznam.sk

Industriellenvereinigung

Schwarzenbergplatz 4

A 1031 Wien

Tel: ++43 1 711350

Fax: ++43 1 711 352910

Email: iv.office@iv-net.at

Neusiedler/Mondi bussiness papier SCP, as

Bystrická cesta 13,
034 17 Ruzomberok, Slovakia; tel: +421 44 4361111,
fax: +421 44 4327701, e-mail: mondibpscp@mondibp.com,
webpage: www.mondibpscp.com

Board of directors of Neusiedler/Mondi in Slovakia

CEO Otto Pichler
otto.pichler@neusiedler.com, tel:+421 44 436 3506
Miloslav Curilla
miloslav.curilla@neusiedler.com, tel: +421 44 4325724,
fax: +421 44 432 7701
Spokesperson for the company
hovorca@neusiedler.com, mobile: +421 902 323 242, tel:
+421 44 436 3470, fax: +421 44 436 3472;

Neusiedler Production facilities:

Austria:

Neusiedler YBBSTAL - AG

A - 3363 Ulmerfeld - Hausmening

Tel.: +43/7475/500-0; Fax: +43/7475/500-2106 or -2259

sevice@neusiedler.com

Hungary:

NEUSIEDLER SZOLNOK RT

Tószegi út 2

H-5000 Szolnok

Telefon: +36/56/501 100; Fax: +36/56/501 115

Israel:

NEUSIEDLER HADERA PAPER LTD.

Industrial Zone, P.O. Box 142

IL-Hadera 38101

Tel.: +972/4/6349-5514; Fax: +972/4/6346-602

Russia:

OJSC NEUSIEDLER SYKTYVKAR

2, Bumazhnikov pr.

167026 Syktyvkar

Tel.: +7/8212/669-974; Fax: +7/8212/665-698

Slovakia:

NEUSIEDLER SCP a.s.

Bystrická cesta 13

SK-03417 Ružomberok

Tel.: +421/44/436 1111; Fax: +421/44/432 7701

South Africa:

Mondi Fine Paper South Africa

PO Box 31024

4059 Merebank

Tel.: +27/31/451 2111; Fax: +27/31/461 1343

Neusiedler Sales offices:

Austria:

NEUSIEDLER AG, Verkaufsbüro Wien,

Kelsenstraße 7

A-1032 Wien

Telefon: +43/1/795 06-0; Fax: +43/1/795 06-900

service@neusiedler.com

Britain:

NEUSIEDLER UK LTD.

Horatio House, 77 Fulham Palace Road

Hammersmith, UK-London W6 8JC

Telefon: +44/20 8237 6050; Fax: +44/20 8741 3790

infolineuk@neusiedler.com

Bulgaria:

NEUSIEDLER SCP BULGARIA

4, Saborna str, entr. B, 1st floor, apt. 3

BG-1000 Sofia

Telefon: +359/2/98 77 305

Fax: +359/2/98 65 298

milan.demjanovic@neusiedler.com

Czech Republic

NEUSIEDLER SCP BOHEMIA s.r.o.

CZ-108 00 Praha 10

Telefon: +420/2/66 02 1554, 66 02 1565; Fax: +420/2/72 70 6559

ivana.capkova@neusiedler.com

France:

NEUSIEDLER FRANCE SARL

4, Rue des Ecricrolles

Z.A.E. des Ecricrolles

F-95410 Groslay

Telefon: +33/1/30 10 01 20; Fax: +33/1/30 10 01 21

commercialmarketingparis@neusiedler.com

Germany:

NEUSIEDLER DEUTSCHLAND GMBH

Feringastraße 13

D-85774 Unterföhring

Telefon: +49/89/417 68-0; Fax: +49/89/417 68-105

infoline@neusiedler.com

Italy:

NEUSIEDLER ITALIA SRL

Via Della Giustizia 9

I-20125 Milano

Telefon: +39/02/669 37 08

Fax: +39/02/669 30 94

neusiedler-italia@neusiedler.com

Netherlands:

NEUSIEDLER BENELUX B.V.

Bruynvisweg 14

NL-1531 AZ Wormer

Telefon: +31/75/647 2020; Fax: +31/75/647 2025

info@neusiedler.com

Poland:

NEUSIEDLER SCP POLSKA

ul. Pulawska 303

PL-02-785 Warszawa

Telefon: +48/22/549 4851

Fax: +48/22/549 4850

nscp.polska@neusiedler.com

Russia:

OOO NEUSIEDLER CIS

2, Brestskaya Ulica,

Dom 8, 13th floor

RU-125047 Moskva

Telefon: +7/095/540 4884; Fax: +7/095/540 4884

craig.jacobs@neusiedler.com

USA:

NEUSIEDLER NORTH AMERICA, Inc.

432 West 21st Street

Norfolk, VA 23517

Virginia, USA

Telefon: +1/757/624 9499

Fax: +1/757/624 9498

jack.plomgren@neusiedler.com

Ukraine:

NEUSIEDLER SCP UKRAINE

Bol’shaya Vasil’kovskaya 132, of. 70

UA-252 150 Kiev

Telefon: +380/44/268 1493, 268 0225; Fax: +380/44/495 2698

peter.rujak@neusiedler.com