The former employees of the VegaNana bakery are demanding payment of wages owed. Let`s support them!

04/11/2024

(Note: Originally published in Slovak on 28th August 2024) Katarína Podhorová (the boss) and Alexandra Podhorová (the owner of the business license) refuse to pay three former employees who helped shape the newly established vegan bakery. The former employees – Jana, Laura and Veronika, demand payment of the amount owed to them, totaling 17 252,30 euros, and together with the Priama Akcia union, they initiate activities for its payment. Help us and send a message to those responsible, voicing your opinion on their actions. In the article you will find a template message, as well as more detailed information about what happened and how the three colleagues decided to defend themselves and fight for the payment of the money they are owed for the work they have done.

HOW TO SHOW SUPPORT

The easiest and quickest way is to contact VegaNana, message them your opinion and ask for immediate payment of the debt. You can send an e-mail, use social media or even call. We would appreciate if you let us know about your message.

Email: info@veganana.sk
IG: @veganana___
FB: https://www.facebook.com/katkaveganana
Phone number: 0903 749 972

Template e-mail message:

Hello,

upon learning about VegaNana`s practices, I must express my indignation at the non-payment of wages and other financial claims owed to three former workers amounting to €17 252,30. I demand that you pay your debt immediately.
I am concerned about your actions, your failure to fulfill your basic legal obligations as an employer, your ignorance of several requests for payment and your general refusal to take responsibility for the problems you have caused.
You have repeatedly praised Jana, Laura and Veronika for their work and showed appreciation for their honest work which often went above and beyond the expectations related to their work duties. But words of thanks are not enough in employment and the former workers are owed the wages you agreed upon when they were hired for the job, as well as the resulting additional financial entitlements.
Apart from the fact that the non-payment of wages is a criminal offense, it also has a moral dimension and reveals a lot about you. I will inform other people of your actions and advise them to avoid your establishment until you resolve the problems you have caused.
I am also sorry that by your actions you are also giving veganism bad press, even though one of its main aim of veganism is to avoid exploitation.
My fingers are crossed for Jana, Laura and Veronika and I support the campaign to pay the wages owed!

Name, city (or organization and country)

VEGANANA

VegaNana is a vegan bakery on Biela Street No. 4 in Bratislava`s Old Town. It was founded in August 2023 by baker Katarína Podhorová, with her daughter Alexandra Podhorová officially listed as the owner of the business. Gradually, people with special diets and allergies, as well as tourists (thanks to its location), have become fond of the business.

In the crucial months of the enterprise`s development, its key support was provided by the then employees Jana (October 2023 to April 2024), Laura (September 2023 to April 2024) and Veronika (November 2023 to April 2024). Jana worked mostly as a waitress, Laura and Veronika as bakers. They were grateful for the establishment of  a vegan bakery, which had been in Bratislava, and supported the chef in her business’ advancement. They found it fulfilling to be part of a safe and diverse community that brings people together, offers a welcoming family atmosphere and carries a vegan message. At least that`s what it seemed like in the early days.

PROBLEMS

We spent many hours discussing with Jana, Laura and Veronika and they always spoke in superlatives about the job itself. They shared the same joy and love of the job and had a good and friendly relationship with each other that has endured.

From an employment perspective, however, VegaNana was a major failure from the start. Katarína Podhorová`s approach as the responsible manager often had a common denominator – chaos. The first wages had to be repeatedly demanded and out of all the months working there, only one full monthly payment was provided on time .

Gradually, other problems began to emerge. For example, the company failed to fulfill its obligations related to health and social insurance, opening hours were frequently changed due to the chaotic organization of production, shifts were planned from day to day, tasks were delegated to employees that were not part of their job description (e.g. buying of goods or work-shadowing new temporary workers), overtime shifts were not being paid, Jana and Veronika still did not have signed employment contracts even in January (according to the boss, the accountant was to blame) and they did not even receive pay slips (which they still do not have to this day). VegaNana has not even issued them employment records to this day, which is another example of the employer`s unlawful conduct.

GROWING DISSATISFACTION WITH THE ATTITUDE OF THE BOSS

The most tangible problem affecting all three workers was the non-payment of wages. The very first late payments led to debates with Katarína Podhorová, who was in the position of their boss (and later also with her daughter), as well as to the workers’ requests to be paid on time, in the agreed amount and not in partial payments.

The boss`s reactions varied, but generally they were always in the same vein – acknowledgment  that the debt existed, a promise to pay it, pleas for more time, delaying deadlines to pay the wages, but also crying, using her own traumas and difficult life or other people’s actions, as well as the alleged lack of funds, as an excuse for the situation.

Jana, Laura and Veronika tolerated the situation during the first months. They were convinced that these were just the difficult beginnings of a promising business that would eventually be able to pay wages on time and in the agreed amount. They were also able to tolerate the fact that they themselves had to borrow money from family and friends as a result.

Since the beginning of 2024, the business has been doing quite well. The clientele grew, the number of orders increased and they could also see more regular orders. The boss kept telling the workers that they were her priority and without them the business could not carry on. So it seemed that there was still a chance to pay off the debt.

However, the non-payment of wages continued and they began to find out more unpleasant facts. They discovered that Katarína had registered them with the Social Insurance Agency and health insurance companies much later than she should have, thus incurring a debt on insurance contributions. They repeatedly drew her attention to this fact as well. To no avail.

THE BREAKING POINT

Jana, Laura and Veronika gradually got into a position where they began spending their savings heavily and openly told their boss that they had to borrow money for basic human needs such as food, rent and hygiene products.

The fact that the boss always knew how to find money for taxi rides to and from work, all-day parking for her car in the city center, beauty treatments or the expensive rent for a large house in Bratislava did not add to their satisfaction.

The situation culminated in March 2024, when production moved from the bakery to a newly leased space (also in the Old Town). Laura and Veronika began working there, although they spent most of their time there alone. The boss began avoiding them and baked more and more often in the evenings after they had left. When they wanted to talk to her about their unpaid wages, she always had something more important to do and could not meet with them.

Jana stayed in the shop with only minimal help from the temporary workers. She was working overtime and managing a huge workload.

In April 2024, all three workers agreed that the boss was not interested in reaching an agreement, not even on a phased repayment of the wage owed, and that the delay was no longer tolerable.

After another failed attempt by Laura and Veronika to meet with the boss, they both messaged her on April 9, 2024, refusing to continue coming to work until at least two months of their unpaid wages and the entire amount owed to them were paid by the end of the month. Jana also wrote a message and stated that April 10 was her last day of work and demanded payment of the wages owed by a given date. She was willing to work the remainder of April, in the case that she would receive the entire one month`s salary.

The boss did not comply with either of these demands and did not respond to the messages at all. After a week, they also contacted the boss`s daughter Alexandra, who pretended that she knew nothing, had no insight into anything, and made excuses that in reality she was just as bad off as they were.

Moreover, another surprise awaited the workers after they left VegaNana. They found out that the insurance debt was even higher than they had thought, because the boss had not paid any contributions to the Social Insurance Agency at all since the beginning of 2024. Moreover, she owed the health insurance company as well, and another issue was revealed. It is common practice in the services sector to work illegally, mainly in the form of stating the minimum wage in the contract and paying the rest in cash off the record. This has an impact on insurance contributions, which are consequently lower, and so are the social security benefits (old-age pension, maternity benefit, etc.). All three workers made clear to their boss their dissatisfaction with the fact that the contracts, which they received only after several months, suddenly showed a completely different amount than the one verbally agreed upon when they were hired. In the case of Jana and Veronika, the contract stated a minimum wage, and their contracts did not contain their signature.

COMMON STEPS AFTER LEAVING THE JOB

Laura and Veronika initiated several meetings with the boss after their departure (most recently in June), demanding updates on the situation and the payment of wages . The boss initially assured them that she wanted them to continue working once she had resolved the wage situation. At the same time, however, she was always making excuses, asking them to wait, claiming that she was in the process of taking out a loan, and acting pathetic in their presence. Her daughter, in turn, promised that she would pay the wages owed to them and somehow resolve the situation.

That nothing of this will materialize became clear when Laura and Veronika discovered unexpectedly that VegaNana had deregistered them with the Social Insurance Agency on 15 June without letting them know. When they confronted their boss with this, it was obvious that she had no interest in informing them. There was no further communication, as both the boss and her daughter stopped communicating and responding to the calls.

In the meantime, the employees lodged a complaint with the Labour Inspectorate and the Trade Inspection. Jana also sought legal assistance, which she could not afford. Neither of these attempts yielded results.

In the second half of June, they finally contacted our union. It was great for us to see that they did not give up and were very determined to achieve their demands. It often happens that people come to terms with being exploited and have no desire or time to actively fight for them. In the case of Jana, Laura and Veronika, it was different.

HANDING OVER THE DEMAND LETTER AND ENTERING INTO A DISPUTE WITH VEGANANA

The first of the activities planned together was to hand over a letter of demands and a detailed calculation of the debt to each of the workers.

On Tuesday, August 13, 2024, we handed the letter over in the shop and in the production space, accompanied by almost twenty supporters. We were unable to reach the boss or her daughter (however, we later spotted the boss with the letter on the terrace of the shop), and we also sent it by e-mail and the post, just to be sure. In the letter, we made it clear that if the demands were not met by August 27, we would organize a campaign in support of Jana, Laura and Veronika.

At the time of publishing this article, August 28, the only response from the two women responsible is that they have blocked the Instagram accounts of the former employees...

This is the official start of the dispute with VegaNana.

VEGANISM AND EMPLOYMENT - WHAT LIVES REALLY MATTER?

As we sympathize with the ideas of veganism, we would like to dwell on this topic, too. Katarína Podhorová’s family, including her three children, have been vegan for many years. Both the boss and her daughter are passionate advocates for animal welfare and reject the brutal conditions of animals trapped in factory farms to be killed for human consumption or pleasure.

Veganism, however, takes many forms, and we cannot identify with the one seen in the case of VegaNana’s boss and owner. For example, on Women`s Day, Alexandra Podhorová posted a story on the VegaNana Instagram account in which she expressed her opposition to the exploitation of female animals around the world. And at the very same time, VegaNana was employing and exploiting three female human employees, whose quality of life was severely degraded. Those in charge kept them in limbo, lied to them, misled them, and although they acknowledged that these women were the ones who had helped develop and run their business, in reality they "thanked" them by causing them financial problems.

How can a person who supports vegan beliefs of protecting life not see the declining value of life in a human being, in a working person, in a woman? VegaNana thus appears to be a place where it is unacceptable for those responsible to exploit an animal, while overlooking the exploitation of a human being.

We hope that such an understanding of veganism fills others with disgust as well, and that the struggle of Jana, Laura and Veronika will find wide support. They already have the support of their surroundings and the Priama Akcia union, and if you are reading these lines and feel the same disgust as we do, we would appreciate it if you could participate in the campaign as well.

And if you happen to currently work in a VegaNana bakery or production premises, or have or had similar experience in another workplace and want to address it, now is the time to act. Get in touch!

Thank you for your support. We will keep you updated on the progress of the dispute and any further actions taken.

Priama Akcia union