First efforts at conciliation following month of civil unrest

The Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, the largest trade union organisation in the Czech Republic, announced a ‘month of civil unrest’ starting on 21 May 2008. Trade unionists held a series of demonstrations outside government buildings, highlighting the contentious issues of pensions, public health, education, salaries and inflation. The government is resolute on maintaining its reform plans but has started negotiations with teachers’ trade unions.

Tensions continue over public finance reform

The public finance reform which took effect at the start of 2008 is a constant source of friction between the trade unions and government. According to the latter, the reform’s principal aim is to stabilise public budgets, cut mandatory expenditure by adjusting the social security system and health system, and simultaneously reduce the tax burden on workers (CZ0706049I). The trade unions’ first protest against the reform’s anticipated adverse social effects took place in June 2007 (CZ0707019I). In the spring of 2008, the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů, ČMKOS), the largest trade union federation in the Czech Republic – comprising 32 trade unions and about 540,000 members – called a series of further demonstrations, at which it sought to inform the public about the negative impacts of the reform (CZ0803019I).

Contentious issues

The trade unions that are most vocal in expressing their discontent with the public finance reform are those operating in the economic sectors of education and health, as well as unions in the mining industry and rail transport. Above all, they criticise the high rate of inflation, which reached 7.1% in March 2008 and which trade union leaders blame on the government reform. The unions also draw attention to the fact that public sector salaries increased by just 1.5% last year; the shortfall between this pay increase and the inflation rate has considerably worsened civil servants’ standard of living. Trade unions in the education sector also point to the low real increase in teachers’ salaries (CZ0805019I, CZ0712039I).

Another controversial issue is the planned pension reform, including the government’s intention to raise the retirement age to 65 years (CZ0710029I). According to the trade unions, workers in physically demanding professions in mining and heavy industry should be entitled to retire at an earlier age, as those engaged in such arduous activities face a lower life expectancy than other workers.

The trade unions also oppose the proposal of the Minister of Health, Tomáš Julínek, to convert teaching hospitals and health insurance companies into joint stock companies. A further point of contention is the introduction of standard fees in the health system; patients have paid these fees for visits to the doctor since the beginning of 2008. The unions are particularly critical of the fact that the payments are not set on an incremental basis according to patients’ incomes. Thus, in the opinion of the trade unions, medical care is becoming unaffordable for low-income groups .

Month of civil unrest

On the basis of these grievances, ČMKOS President, Milan Štěch, announced a month of protest, which started on 21 May 2008 (CZ0806039I, CZ0807019I). The trade unions protested in front of the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic during every session of government. Each demonstration focused on a particular topic; the series of protests covered the issues of high inflation, low salaries in the public sector, the planned increase in the retirement age for all categories of workers, and the planned and already implemented changes in the health system.

Government position

Regarding the healthcare reforms already in place and still at the planning stage, the government is trying to push through its programme. It also refuses to introduce any kind of pension categories with graded retirement ages for different groups of workers. More promisingly, however – from a trade union perspective – the Minister of Education, Ondřej Liška, has already begun talks with unions in the education sector and is trying to negotiate better pay terms for teaching staff.

The government as a whole rejected the protests during the month of civil unrest. Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, Petr Nečas, noted the politicisation of trade union leaders and their links with the strongest parliamentary opposition party, the Czech Social Democratic Party (Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD), which has long criticised the public finance reform in parliament.

Hana Dolezelova, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs (RILSA)