Riot at the Slovak airport: Strike emergency? Employees announce mass layoffs – Nový Čas

Employees of the Poprad-Tatry airport wrote a letter to the Minister of Transport Andrej Doležal (nominee We are family). In it, they inform him that they are resigning collectively due to the bad situation at the workplace and bullying by the executive director and chairman of the board of the Poprad-Tatry Airport company Petar Dujava. In his reaction, he described the information in the letter as false. “The management of the airport changed in September 2020, but after two years, although we can bear a lot and we were informed in advance about the possible behavior of Mr. Director, the situation is already intolerable. While the airport shows good results in the media and on paper, from the inside there is disruption of the company. Due to the long-term bullying and arrogant attitude of the executive director and chairman of the board of Poprad-Tatry Airport, after careful consideration and evaluation of the entire situation, we have decided to file a mass resignation,” the airport employees state in the letter. As they write, they will take back their resignations only after meeting one condition, which is the dismissal of Dujava. In his response to TASR, he stated that he assumed the position of executive director in September 2020. According to him, the airport was not only in economic but also in security disarray. “As a crisis manager, I proceeded with the immediate restructuring of the company, changing the organizational structure, I reduced costs within the framework of efficiency. I canceled disadvantageous contracts and focused on new markets and activities in which the airport had not yet operated. From someone’s point of view, these might have been unpopular measures However, it is necessary for the further future of the airport,” he said. In 2020 and 2021, after long periods of losses, the company was able to make a profit and stabilize, according to him. “I consider the information in the letter that aims to discredit my person to be irrelevant and untrue, even sent anonymously and without the consent of all employees. I have always expected high-quality and responsible performance from employees, which in no way has anything to do with bullying,” he declared. Most employees in the company, as they claim, do not even know the contents of the open letter and learned about it only from the media. “I received information from the employees that they do not agree with the content of the letter and do not identify with it,” said Dujava, adding that not a single statement in this regard has been registered so far. “My next steps will be aimed at stabilizing the situation in the form of open communication with employees, as it has always been until now,” added Dujava. The Ministry of Transport told TASR that they want to check the situation first. “The Minister of Transport needs to familiarize himself with the situation in detail, verify the facts before he takes a position,” said Ivan Rudolf, director of the communication department of the Ministry of Transport and Construction of the Slovak Republic.