Update On the Dispute With VegaNana Over Unpaid Wages

In mid-October an international campaign was initiated against VegaNana and its business partners (see article from 16 October here). Since then, there have been some interesting developments. The hotel that provided the premises for baking in Bratislava informed us that they have terminated the lease agreement. On the other hand, GlutenFreeX has been very supportive towards VegaNana and its baker Katarína Podhorová, especially after we visited the shop in Vienna during the International Week Against Unpaid wages. In this article, we sum up the latest news and actions, and provide a quick and easy guide on how to get involved in the campaign in support of the former VegaNana employees Jana, Laura and Veronika.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

Let’s start with the results of the police interrogations. What initially appeared to be a criminal complaint against Jana, Laura and Veronika filed by VegaNana has been officially investigated as a "misdemeanour against civil cohabitation". Only two weeks ago we have learned that the police closed the investigation on 25 September with a statement of "no suspicion of misdemeanour". It is worth adding that during the interrogations the police indicated to the former employees (based on the documentation they provided about VegaNana`s practices) that they themselves could file a criminal complaint for non-payment of wages.

At around the same time when we learned about the results of the investigation, baker Katarína Podhorová updated VegaNana`s Instagram profile photo. Instead of the VegaNana sign, everyone can now see a photo of her. We hope that this change will help people to better understand who really stands behind VegaNana.

In October, we have contacted the Bratislava-based businesses still purchasing cakes from VegaNana. None of them bothered to respond yet.

As for the wages owed to the former workers, they remain unpaid and VegaNana has not yet made any effort to resolve the issue. On the contrary, as we’ve already mentioned, VegaNana has tried to defame the former workers and cause them problems with the police. The campaign will continue until the debt is paid.

And now, let’s move to the news which is related to the aftermath of the international campaign.

THE EFFECTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN

To sum up, in mid-October when we initiated the campaign, Hotel Skaritz that provided the premises for VegaNana’s shop was not communicating with us anymore and GlutenFreeX was being completely silent. This has since changed.

As for Hotel Skaritz, on 23 October we received a statement from the hotel management. They informed us that they had terminated the lease with the new legal entity associated with the baker Katarína as of 31 October. It seems that this is true and she has ceased baking on the hotel premises for good.

As for GlutenFreeX, the other key partner of VegaNana, it is worth to take a more in-depth look at this company.

GLUTENFREEX - A COPYBOOK EXAMPLE OF VEGANISM SUPPORTING HUMAN EXPLOITATION

GlutenFreeX is a vegan-gluten-free shop in Vienna owned by Thomas Gottsbacher and Peter Repčík, which imports various products from Bratislava and sells them in Vienna, including the cakes from VegaNana (or the baker Katarína). It is also linked to VegaNana through the VEGANana.at sign on the front window of the shop at Nussdorferstraße 43.

Before the international campaign began, VegaNana`s connection with GlutenFreeX was quite clear. The website veganana.at was up and running, reviews praised VEGANANA`s products, and the contact details on the site listed “VEGANANA & GlutenfreeX” and the contact e-mail was hello@veganana.at. Moreover, the photos of the cakes that GlutenfreeX promoted on Facebook and the mentioned website were identical to the photos of the cakes on VegaNana`s official Instagram page.

One of the effects of the international campaign is that GlutenFreeX has been trying to get rid of any association with word “VegaNana”. They launched a new website veganx.at (which would have redirected you to veganana.at just a few days ago) and which looks almost identical to the former veganana.at site. The difference is that the introduction welcomes you not to VegaNana but to VeganX, and the "replace" function has apparently been applied to all occurrences of the word VegaNana (including those in untrustworthy reviews).

Versus:

Since one can`t use this function on photos, the VegaNana logo can still be found on some of them:

But let`s go back a few days. GlutenFreeX were forced to respond to questions about their approval of the practices of VegaNana only after information about the dispute was published in English and German. The company management`s response essentially copied the hotel`s approach – they replied to one of the protest e-mails sent from abroad from the e-mail address hello@veganana.at, stating that GlutenFreeX was no longer purchasing products from "Alexandra Podhorová - Veganana". But since there was no response to our questions, on Friday October 18, a visit was made to the GlutenFreeX shop in Vienna
as part of the ongoing International Week Against Unpaid Wages (https://iwa-ait.org/content/international-week-against-unpaid-wages-october-14-20-2024). Jana, Laura and Veronika, together with the unions Priama Akcia and Wiener ArbeiterInnen-Syndikat (which is a section of the International Workers’ Association in Austria) handed over a letter with the questions in person.

Thomas Gottsbacher was not present in the shop, but two hours after the visit he sent us an e-mail asking how he could be of help, stating that he had only little information about the situation in Bratislava from his Slovak business partner. So we translated into English the two articles with details of the dispute that had only been published in Slovak until then (see the full English translations here and here). We have also added information about the decision of the Labour Inspectorate and the findings of the police investigation (both of which worked to VegaNana’s disadvantage).

Despite all the given facts, the owner of GlutenFreeX was mainly interested in the legal form of our union, the name of the union’s statutory representative and the name of the person sending the e-mails. He added that: "After we receive this confirmations from you, we will answer your questions, on a personal meeting with your official and legal representative."

It seems that for Thomas Gottsbacher, veganism is about not wanting to exploit animals, but he is not bothered by the exploitation of humans. He is so invested in his role as an advocate for the baker Katarína that he has begun adopting her practices (specifically the use of false accusations) in posts in the Facebook group Vegan Wien 2.0. Here he claims, for example, that our union "sprayed cars and shutters to extort money" and that this is "a targeted action by competitors to damage VegaNana`s business". An even funnier variation is his claim that the campaign is "funded by one of VegaNana’s competitors to put her out of business." At the same time, he has no problem to add: "But we don`t have evidence of that".

As for the sprayed cars and shutters, it`s possible that this is his way of interpreting the fact that the baker Katarína found a birthday card on the door of the now closed VegaNana bakery (where she was still baking) on Tuesday 22 October saying “All the best in paying the wages owed to your former employees”:

She also received a post-birthday gift on Wednesday, October 23, to remind her that her practices are not forgotten and unpaid debts are still pending. Additionally, she was reminded of her repeated long-term parking without a valid permit on Nedbalova Street in Bratislava’s Old Town “Parking like a boss (without permit)”

The other messages state:
- “Exploiting people! My version of veganism”
- “I do not pay wages”
- “I cause a trouble... and act like a victim”
- “I live off other people’s work and yet I owe wages, too”
- “I exploit”
- “I manipulate”

But again, let`s go back to Thomas Gottsbacher. His favorite argument at the moment is the mantra that our union is not registered, the unpaid wages are just our allegations, "there is no evidence of them" and VegaNana has "always paid all wages in full". The fact that there were unpaid wages will only be acknowledged when a complaint is made to the police or a court decides on Katarína`s guilt in this matter. In his world, things obviously happen this way and only this way: "If any wages or social security contributions were not paid, a report would immediately be made to the police or the insurance agency, which has not happened, isn`t that strange?" What is rather strange is that the owner of GlutenFreeX writes these things even though he knows that VegaNana has not produced a single shred of evidence that the former employees were paid.

Thomas Gottsbacher indicates that workers can do nothing without the courts. From his position as a business owner, he is giving us advice on how we should fight our struggles and what tactics we should use. In reality, the idea of having to spend money and time on a lawsuit with an uncertain end is often a factor that discourages workers from fighting for their demands.

Priama Akcia’s approach is different. As we state in our FAQ (https://priamaakcia.sk/kategoria/FAQ/), "We devote our energy primarily to direct (protest) action, which is usually more effective and produces results more quickly. When a dispute is resolved through the courts, we have no control or influence over it. On the contrary, in the case of protest actions, we push directly on the responsible persons and their financial and other interests. Thanks to this we gain experiences that can be used to solve problems in the future."

To conclude, we will use one of the many contradictory and confused statements of the owner of GlutenFreeX. Recently, in the Wien Vegan 2.0 Facebook group, he tried using the same trick again and stated that he and "VegaNana Bratislava" had stopped working together, and another person has taken over baking for GlutenFreeX. On Friday, October 25, he received a response to this post stating that GlutenFreeX still had cakes from the baker Katarína in the shop on Friday, October 18, asking him to clarify whether they do not sell and will not sell her cakes in the shop or on the website. At the time of writing this text, no response has been received.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO SUPPORT JANA, LAURA AND VERONIKA?

1) Send a message to GlutenFreeX

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/glutenfreexshop
https://www.instagram.com/vegane_konditorei_1090wien/
WhatsApp (via website): https://veganx.at
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glutenfreex/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@glutenfreexshop
E-mail: office@gluten-freex.at; hello@veganx.at
Tel: +43 1 95 81 933

Message template:

Hello,

Ich habe erfahren, dass GlutenFreeX steht in Verbindung mit der Bäckerin Katarína Podhorová/VegaNana, die für die Ausbeutung von Arbeitern, Nichtzahlung von Löhnen und falsche Anschuldigungen gegen diejenigen, die sich solchen Praktiken widersetzen, verantwortlich ist.
Es scheint, dass Ihr Verständnis von Veganismus nicht im Einklang mit dem Kampf gegen die Ausbeutung aller steht. Ich werde Ihren Konditorei nicht empfehlen.

Add name, city (and organisation and country, if applicable)
- - -

English translation (the template for the review is basically the same):

It has come to my attention that GlutenFreeX is associated with Ms. Katarína Podhorová/VegaNana, who is known for exploiting workers, not paying wages and making false accusations against those who stand up against such practices.
Your understanding of veganism does not seem to be in line with the fight against the exploitation of all. I will not recommend your shop.

2) Write a review on GlutenFreeX

https://g.co/kgs/BhYzkLK
https://www.happycow.net/reviews/glutenfreex-vienna-385903
https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/UserReviewEdit-g190454-d28247005-Glutenfreex_Bakery_And_Patisserie-Vienna.html

Message template:

GlutenFreeX steht in Verbindung mit der Bäckerin Katarína Podhorová/VegaNana, die für die Ausbeutung von Arbeitern, Nichtzahlung von Löhnen und falsche Anschuldigungen gegen diejenigen, die sich solchen Praktiken widersetzen, verantwortlich ist.
Es scheint, dass Ihr Verständnis von Veganismus nicht im Einklang mit dem Kampf gegen die Ausbeutung aller steht. Ich werde Ihre Konditorei nicht empfehlen.
Mehr Informationen: https://www.priamaakcia.sk/kategoria/english/

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Finally, we would like to express our sincere thanks for the support that Jana, Laura and Veronika have received.

Our joint struggle to pay the wages and other financial claims owed continues.

Priama Akcia union