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Unions set to protest reforms

Railroad Workers' Union threatens general strike

By Markéta Hulpachová
Staff Writer, The Prague Post
June 20th, 2007 issue

Labor union leaders expect more than 40,000 people to gather on Wenceslas Square June 23 to demonstrate against the government’s proposed public finance reforms.
The demonstration will be the first in a series of possible protests planned by the Railroad Workers’ Union (OSŽ) and the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (ČMKOS), which say the reform bill alleviates the financial burden of individuals with high incomes while leaving those whose incomes fall into lower tax brackets at a disadvantage.
“The reform’s actual goal isn’t to address the public-finance deficit, but to lower taxes for the highest income brackets,” said ČMKOS spokeswoman Jana Kašparová.
The bill’s first reading passed the Chamber of Deputies June 7. The law requires two more readings, which will be held this summer, before the bill reaches the Senate.
A labor demonstration of this planned caliber last took place in November 2005, when more than 25,000 union members protested against the government’s proposed amendment to the Labor Code. At the June 23 demonstration, labor union leaders hope to convince the government to revaluate the proposed reforms.
“We will only support a reform in which the tax burden is justly distributed between members of all income brackets,” said Kašparová.
If the Cabinet does not respond to the unions’ requests, the 51,000-member OSŽ has said it is prepared to launch a general strike.
“We are forming a tough core of unionists,” said OSŽ president Jaromír Dušek, adding that he already has the support of the Association of Independent Unions, which has more than 250,000 members. To hold a general strike successfully, however, Dušek will also need the support of the 570,000-member ČMKOS.
Although he has entered talks with the OSŽ, ČMKOS President Milan Štěch said a general strike is a last-case scenario.
“People associate a general strike with fundamental political changes. Nothing like that is happening,” Štěch said.
If the government fails to recognize the unions’ concerns after the demonstration, a more realistic outcome is a warning strike, in which workers would halt operations for a short period and wait for the government’s reaction, Štěch said.
Aside from the possible strikes, ČMKOS plans regional demonstrations and increased lobbying.
“Our analysts are currently preparing a tax-reform-bill manual to give to the deputies,” Kašparová said. “The bills are presented to deputies in such a way that they often don’t know what they’re voting on.”
If called, the general strike would be the first since 1989, when labor was halted during the Velvet Revolution. Politicians recognize that the strike would cripple national operations.

Markéta Hulpachová can be reached at mhulpachova@praguepost.com


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