Since August 2024, three former employees and VegaNana have been in dispute over thousands of euros in unpaid wages (more info: https://priamaakcia.sk/tag/veganana). In the coming weeks, we will publish a series of articles with the latest updates on the dispute. Let’s start with the Vienna-based company GlutenFreeX (or VeganX), which in the past significantly supported VegaNana and acted against our union and the former employees. Last year, they say, VegaNana ended its business relations with the company.
ANNOUNCEMENT
On 27th October 2025, we received an email from the owners of GlutenFreeX/VeganX stating that Alexandra Podhorová - Veganana (de jure entity responsible for the wages owed) had ended her business relationship with them because:
“it was not profitable for her to supply us as her sole B2B client, and VEGANX and GLUTENFREEEX did not agree to her 20% price increase.”
To verify the situation, we checked the products on the GlutenFreeX and VeganX websites and found that photos of VegaNana cakes are still there. The situation at the store on Nussdorferstraße 43 is different. VegaNana products have indeed disappeared from the selection and the company now has a new supplier (also from Slovakia). However, we would like to draw attention to something else.
AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED
The email from the owners of GlutenFreeX/VeganX continued:
“Since your request has been fulfilled, we would like to ask you to delete all articles about us from your websites, Facebook, and Google Maps.“
This is how we responded:
Hello,
The website priamaakcia.sk serves a journalistic purpose, and articles are not deleted from it.
We have no control over the deletion of reviews on Google Maps, as they do not originate from us.
Until the alleged end of the collaboration between “Alexandra Podhorová - VegaNana” and your company, you intentionally collaborated with entities on their side. To date, you have not made any critical comments regarding the fact that VegaNana owes thousands of euros in wages to former employees. On the contrary, you have repeatedly harassed them psychologically, made false accusations against them and threatened them.
Furthermore, it is clear from your statement that you agreed to the alleged end of business relations solely for economic, not moral, reasons.
Setting aside the aforementioned facts, your statement has journalistic value for us, and therefore we are willing to make a conciliatory gesture and will publish information stating that you allegedly no longer collaborate with “Alexandra Podhorova - Veganana” in one of
In the event that it is confirmed that your collaboration with VegaNana continues, and in the event that you continue any attacks against the three former employees of VegaNana or the Priama Akcia union, we will be forced to respond accordingly.
The owners of GlutenFreeX/VeganX replied with two sentences - they thanked us for our response and reiterated that we should mention the end of their collaboration. They did not apologize for their previous behavior nor did they express any remorse.
A HISTORY OF LIES
In the past, the owners of GlutenFreeX/VeganX have repeatedly attacked not only former VegaNana employees but also our union. We have already addressed their practices in the article “GlutenFreeX is using falsified documentation to intimidate ex-workers of VegaNana!”. Here are the main points:
· They threatened former VegaNana employees with criminal charges and possible imprisonment due to the fact that we pointed out VegaNana’s practices.
· They falsified communications with our union.
· On social media, they fabricated claims that we are an “illegal” and “extremist” organization “registered with the criminal police in the terrorism section.”
· They lied that we were “physically threatening” them and that we were “funded by one of the competitors.”
· They smeared us with claims that we were the “Slovak Ku Klux Klan.”
· They made xenophobic claims calling the critical reviews on Google Maps as “Eastern Bloc mafia tactics.”
We also haven’t forgotten that shortly after the dispute began, they lied about collaborating with VegaNana – see, for example, the email from 24th October 2024, in the article “Why we didn`t reward GlutenFreeX and VegaNana - press release from St. Nicholas, the Devil and Krampus” and continued to lie later in their communication with the Secretariat of the International Workers’ Association (IWA). Here is an excerpt from an email from a member of the IWA Secretariat from 22nd December 2024:
“(...) We have decided that we will join the workers and union Priama Akcia not only in publicizing these facts but also in criticising you as individuals and as a company, due to your unacceptable actions. Moreover, the International Workers' Association will provide all necessary support to the workers and Priama Akcia, both financial and legal, in case you continue to write more ridiculous slander against them and continue to harrass the workers. We are certainly not afraid of your baseless threats, as you keep making yourself look like a bully for the whole world to see. Such posturing will not give you the effect you seek but might just backfire on you.
Maybe you should take your own advice and reconsider whether your use of threats, falsified documents and your committment to a shady business partner is really worth the trouble.”
The owners responded on December 23rd 2024 by once again denying any collaboration:
“(...) We dont work together with a woman Ms. Katarína Podhorová . She baked for us some cakes in the past and than she stopped producing for us and dissapeared. (...)”
Despite this statement, a month later a promotional video featuring a cake by Katarína Podhorová (the pastry chef de facto responsible for the wages owed) appeared on VeganX’s Instagram. It was the same cake that she had posted on her own Instagram on the very same day. They continued to promote her products in the following months, and in April 2025, we had the opportunity to speak in person with a worker who came to pick up cakes from Katarína Podhorová for GlutenFreeX/VeganX.
The business owners’ unique communication style is also evident on Google Maps in the comments on one- and two-star reviews here https://maps.app.goo.gl/1s9diEwx3TPpEkq16 and here https://maps.app.goo.gl/aqGv3URFLwL17hxf9. Sometimes they edit and tone down the comments after some time, but they’re still worth reading.
WE KNOW WHERE NOT TO SHOP
GlutenFreeX/VeganX is still operating, allegedly without products from VegaNana. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it is a prime example of an approach that, in our view, has nothing to do with the fundamental ethical principle of veganism – non-exploitation (we mentioned this aspect already in the article “Update On the Dispute With VegaNana Over Unpaid Wages”).
GlutenFreeX/VeganX have shown that they have been thinking only of themselves and their business the whole time. We hope that their workers are not experiencing the kind of treatment we have experienced. If by chance they are, our message is this: if you want to defend yourselves, contact the Wiener ArbeiterInnen-Syndikat, the Austrian section of the International Workers’ Association.
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In the second article of the upcoming series, we’ll move from Vienna to Bratislava and focus on the current activities of persons involved with VegaNana.
Priama Akcia
