In an effort to appease trade unions in the run-up to the general election in June, the Chamber of Deputies passed a hastily written update to the 40-year-old Labor Code.

Now — less than three months before it is to take effect — the government has major problems with the law, and outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek's Cabinet has announced it will push to delay the new Labor Code until changes can be made.

The new code would come into direct conflict with the Constitution and have dozens of other shortcomings should it take effect as planned Jan. 1, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Petr Nečas said.

"Our legal analysis showed that about 60 provisions in the new Labor Code are wrong and go against the current valid laws, and some of them are even in conflict with the Constitution," Nečas said. "This is unacceptable. Many controversies would arise if we were to let the new Labor Code come into force without any changes."

The election-winning Civic Democratic Party (ODS) said it is ready to discuss the changes with opposition parties and also with trade unions.

"This has nothing to do with politics," Nečas argued. "It's about doing away with omissions and errors."

But neither the left-leaning opposition parties — the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) and the Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) — nor trade union leaders are willing to allow any changes.

The new code will take effect on schedule, and only then will it be apparent which parts would need to be reformed, said Milan Štěch, chairman of the Czech-Moravian Association of Trade Unions.

Štěch threatens strikes and street protests if the new Labor Code is postponed.

"We'll be ready to take any measures to enforce it," he said.

Shift of power

The new code would give a significant amount of power to employees and trade unions. For example, trade unions would need to agree with overtime work. Employers would also have to provide paid holiday time for employees who leave work to participate in trade union seminars or similar functions.

Business analysts say the revision would clearly give an upper hand to trade unions over employers, but it would fail to liberalize the labor market.

"I can understand writing a right- or left-wing law, but this law is really bad," said Jaroslav Míl, president of the Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (SPD), in May.

The SPD was the first to suggest postponing the new Labor Code by one year.

Meanwhile, the Czech Republic's Business Chamber (ČOK) filed a complaint against the new code to the Constitutional Court in early October. Hours later, the move got the support of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses.

ČOK President Jaromír Drábek said his chamber complained because it questioned a controversial provision that allows trade unions to ban night and overtime work. He said only government authorities were empowered to issue such bans.

Drábek said the new Labor Code was counterproductive because the excessive employee protection would cause employers to offer fewer contracts to new workers, which would lead to higher unemployment.

A ČOK study of 2,010 business leaders and entrepreneurs showed that a strong majority opposes the new Labor Code, Drábek said.

Troubled past

The issue has been causing turmoil from the very beginning.

Despite a general agreement that a new code was needed to replace a communist-era law from the mid-1960s, left-of-center politicians could not reach an agreement with the right about a new version.

After the previous ČSSD-led coalition repeatedly failed to build a consensus on a new draft, the ČSSD forced through a draft only two months before the general election, and only with the tacit support of the KSČM.

President Václav Klaus vetoed the bill in May, arguing that the new Labor Code would not liberalize the labor market and that it would only create inequalities between employers and employees.