A number of other Czech unions have also joined the strike. The unions say the reforms launched by the centre-right cabinet of Mirek Topolanek (Civic Democrats, ODS) have resulted in growing inflation that has decreased real pay in education, health care and the public sector. They also criticise the planned pension system reform that is to gradually increase the retirement age Swedish environmentalist linked to illegal logging ...
Foreigners make up 4 percent of population in CzechRep - stats ... to 65.
The lower house is to vote on the reform this week. Labour and Social Affairs Minister Petr Necas (ODS) told reporters today that the Czech coalition cabinet's existence would be threatened if the bill introducing the first phase of the pension reform failed in the lower house due to insufficient support of government deputies. The protest of trade unions will have various forms. The engine-drivers announced today they would actively join the strike and discontinue the operation of the Czech Railways (CD) passenger trains from 13:00 to 14:15 on Tuesday. Their strike will be 15 minutes longer in protest against the authorities' investigation into a recent tragic accident in east Bohemia in which one of their colleagues died. Though members of the Railway Workers' Trade Union (OSZ) decided not to actively participate in the strike eventually, the engine-drivers alone are able to paralyse the Czech railway operation. The Prague metro will continue its operation even during the one-hour strike since the engine-drivers disagreed with the stoppage. However, it is not yet certain how the bus and tram transport in the capital will operate since the unions failed to coordinate their procedure. Consequently, the final decision will probably be up to individual drivers. "The strike will not be organised," Kristof Veselka, spokesman for the strike coordination committee from the Prague Transform Company, said, adding that up to 6000 company employees, that is about half of them, might participate in it. The metro employees will inform people about their support for the unions' protest from amplifiers and on posters. At least 80 percent of the Transport Company employees in Brno, the second largest town in the Czech Republic, will join the strike. Doctors and other health care personnel in a number of hospitals and surgeries will go on the longest token strike during the whole morning shift. However, they do not want to harm patients, so they will work like on weekends and only postpone some non-acute treatments. Doctors will also debate the aims of the protest with patients at meetings staged in many hospitals. Along with hospitals, trade union members from many old people's homes, social care institutions and psychiatric facilities will join the protest. A number of trade union organisations in building companies have also supported the strike. The unionists will stop working, for instance, in Skanska CS company, number one at the Czech construction market. Employees of the largest car producer in the Czech Republic, Skoda Auto, will go on strike. Most workers in the factories in Mlada Boleslav, central Bohemia, Kvasiny and Vrchlabi, east Bohemia, will interrupt production for one-hour, causing a stoppage of some 100 cars. Several thousands of clerks from municipal, tax, land registry and other offices will strike in south Moravia between 13:00 and 14:00. Employees of the National Library (NK) in Prague will also take part in the strike. Their website will not be accessible during the protest and they will not provide services in the NK seat in Prague Klementinum then. On the other hand, part of the CEZ state power producer's staff will join the strike only symbolically and will not interrupt work. Employees of the Czech Post Office, one of the biggest employers in the country with 37,000 workers, will support the strike only symbolically, too. The employees will express their agreement with the strike on leaflets displayed in the office and by signing petitions. Some schools will support the strike as well, but rather symbolically with regard to the approaching end of the school year.
(Ceske Noviny)
more info >>
<< Back