Public workers stage one-day strike

Schools, hospitals and other state institutions will grind to a virtual halt Dec. 8 as public workers stage a general strike in opposition to salary and benefit cuts proposed by Prime Minister Petr Nečas' government.

The National Library, National Theater and other cultural landmarks will also be affected.   

"From the support among the wider public, we can see something is happening among the Czech people," said Jaroslav Zavadil, chairman of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (ČMKOS) at a Dec. 7 press conference.

"People think about what is going on and do not agree with Nečas' description of the strike as 'total foolishness.' "

Strikers will convene on Prague's Palackého náměstí just after noon Dec. 8, along with similar demonstrations slated for all 13 of the country's regional capitals. All told, the ČMKOS umbrella organization says 21 such protests will take place nationwide. Some 100,000 workers are said to be striking, with another 100,000 supporting the protest indirectly. Union officials say 8,000 soldiers and 2,000 civilian military employees are also backing the strike. Hospitals will operate with decreased emergency staffing comparable to what occurs on a weekend evening. Off-duty police and firefighters will also participate, though they are banned from officially striking by law.

Unions strongly oppose both a 10 percent across-the-board pay cut and a transition to so-called zonal pay, which de-emphasizes pay scales based on years of service and introduces temporally limited contracts for public workers. The government has shown little sign of backing down to union demands and is scheduled to look at the 2011 budget proposal, which includes the cuts, the same day as the protest.

Opposition political parties have expressed support for the strike, citing among other things the right-leaning coalition government's decision to call a state of legislative emergency last month as part of plans to push through austerity measures without a full debate in both houses of Parliament. The opposition Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) controls a majority in Parliament's upper house.

"The Social Democrats consider the strike a legitimate form of protest against the anti-social cuts and misconceived measures of the current coalition government," said Martin Ayrer, a spokesman for the ČSSD. "Nečas' government acts arrogantly toward its employees and conducts wall-to-wall pay cuts without responsible discussions with social partners, workers, the public or the opposition."

The Green Party has also expressed support for the strikers.

"Although we consider all the budget measures aiming at stabilization of public finance as necessary, it is not possible to allow their abuse to limit the working rights of employees," Green Party Chairman Ondřej Liška said. "The government's conduct in this sense is unsustainable, and the requests of the strikers are legitimate."

The strike will come against the backdrop of widespread labor unrest across the European Union in recent months as national governments slash their budgets as part of a general movement toward fiscal austerity.

Spain saw its first general strike in eight years Sept. 29. On that same day, Brussels was largely shut down by more than 100,000 trade union members from 24 countries protesting against austerity measures pushed by the EU.

Public sector workers brought life to halt in Portugal Nov. 24, also protesting proposed budget cuts. Unions claimed that strike was the biggest in the history of the country.

In Hungary, a two-hour strike in late September by pilots for the state-owned Malev airlines led to management concessions.

More recently, Dec. 2, Slovakia's largest trade union group, KOVO, declared a strike alert. Union leaders say they are planning a series of protests for mid-December with a general strike a possibility.

Proposed cuts to the education budget have also sparked anger and protests among students in the United Kingdom. On Nov. 10, students attacked the Conservative Party headquarters. Workers in Ireland, France and elsewhere have either gone on strike or are threatening to do so.

"No one knows whether the austerity programs of member states will trigger a double-dip recession or whether the recovery will be sustained despite the reduction in public debt," said John Monks, the general secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation during a November speech. "We fear the former."

"Ireland took the austerity route early. It was the first eurozone country to do so," he continued. "But the combination of incontinent banks, propped up by the state and the [European Central Bank], clumsy interventions on economic governance from leaders of certain other leading member states and the eye-wateringly tight austerity measures already applied have made the patient worse."

Nečas (Civic Democrats, ODS) and his government say there is no choice but to cut costs on public sector workers. On a television talk show Dec. 5, he said he "understood the trade unions' aggressiveness," citing their need to reassert support in their base as they face declining membership. He called the strike "unsubstantiated."

Union leaders allege Labor and Social Affairs Minister Jaromír Drábek (TOP 09) "banned" Social Security Administration workers from striking. A ministry spokeswoman called those allegations "a purpose-built lie."

"The fact that Drábek sent a letter banning a state organization from striking is a breach of the Czech Constitution," said Jan Rovenský, vice chairman of the State Bodies and Organizations Union.

In September, some 40,000 public sector workers marched against the proposed cuts, including police, soldiers, prison workers, tax officials, educators, medical workers and judges. Doctors are staging their own campaign with thousands vowing to hand in their resignations at year's end.

A public opinion poll by the research firm SC&C found that 60 percent of Czechs support the planned strike, and 8 percent said they would personally take part. Another poll by Factum Invenio found that 54 percent of Czechs support the strike.

Police and firefighters plan to hold their own public rally Dec. 15 as they are not legally allowed to strike.

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report

Benjamin Cunningham can be reached at
bcunningham@praguepost.com