This paper analyses the capacity of the Czech Republic’s social partners to effectively engage in social dialogue at various levels. The paper forms part of a wider, comparative project, managed by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Ireland) and the Work
In recent years, expenditure on research and development (R&D) in the Czech Republic has increased; for example, between 2000 and 2006, the growth rate in R&D was 0.33%. Nevertheless, such funding is still lagging behind the European Union average: in 2006, Czech expenditure in R&D represented 1.54%
Following its general meeting in Prague on 22 April 2009, the main demand of the Czech Confederation of Industry (Svaz průmyslu a dopravy ČR, SP ČR [1]) is for a significant increase in investments in research and education, since the future of the Czech economy depends largely on innovations, high
On 16 May 2009, the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů, ČMKOS [1]) held a demonstration in the country’s capital city Prague highlighting the effects and abuses of the economic recession. The demonstration was part of the European days of action
The global financial crisis has had a considerable impact on the Czech Republic’s automobile industry – the pride of and the driving force behind the Czech economy for the past 15 years, comprising 23% of Czech industrial production and exports. For example, the company Škoda Auto (Škoda Auto a.s.
On 7 September 2008, one of the country’s biggest national trade union federations, the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů, ČMKOS [1]), announced that trade unions would be expecting a wage increase of at least 8% in the private sector in 2009
The German company Siemens AG [1] is to end its involvement in the Siemens Kolejová vozidla [2] plant in Zličín in Prague by the end of September 2009. The Siemens group – which previously received tens of millions of Czech koruna (CZK) in investment incentives in the Czech Republic and employs
On 2 September 2008, a ceremonial act heralded the start of a new round of collective bargaining [1] at Czech Railways (České dráhy, a.s., ČD [2]), as the employer presented a new draft collective agreement for 2009 to representatives of all trade unions operating at ČD. On this occasion, the
In recent weeks, an increasing number of vocal pay demands have been made in various economic sectors, backed up by mass demonstrations or at least the threat of various protests. For example, at the start of October 2008, police officers and firefighters demonstrated in front of the Ministry of the
The government’s public finances reform – Act No. 261/2007 Coll. on the stabilisation of public finances – entered into force at the beginning of 2008. The act stipulates a number of fundamental economic measures in the public sphere, in order to halt the rise in public deficit as well as government
The Czech Minister of Education, Ondřej Liška of the Green Party (Strana zelených, SZ [1]) has been given a deadline by the Czech-Moravian Trade Union of Workers in Education (Českomoravský odborový svaz pracovníků školství, ČMOS PŠ [2]) until the end of April 2008 to persuade the government to