Czech Republic sees its biggest strike in 30 years
On Monday, 27 November, different authorities, firms, schools and other institutions all over the country went on strike against the Czech Government's moves and the impacts of its approved savings package. In some locations instruction or work stopped for an hour or two, in others for the whole day, and many employees and institutions expressed support for the strike while continuing to operate as normal.
Some union members traveled to Prague from the regions to join the demonstration. The unions are prepared to continue their protests if the Government refuses to negotiate with them.
Cabinet ministers say dialogue is possible, but they do not intend to retreat from their attempts to cure what is wrong with the public finances, even under pressure. Speaking in the morning, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (Civic Democratic Party – ODS) said the Government is prepared to keep negotiating with the leaders of the strike, but not under such pressure.
Fiala reiterated that it is necessary to restore the health of the public finances, that pension reform is needed, and that the cabinet will not retreat on those issues. Czech President Petr Pavel said he believes the strike is a justified, legitimate way to express a position in a democratic society, but that a solution can only be found at the negotiating table.
Former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, chair of the Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO), now in opposition, said the Government should immediately resign. Monday’s warning strike, according to unions, was actively joined by 7,213 nursery schools, primary schools and secondary schools, i.e., three-quarters of the total number of all schools in the regions.
Some schools didn’t open, others cancelled instruction and held a different program, while in others the school cafeterias closed. Some schools supported the demands of the strikers just symbolically.
Representatives of the schools and the school unions are seeking more money for the school system, rejecting the reduction to the maximum number of hours of instruction financed from the state budget, and want to prevent a decline in the pay for non-pedagogical staffers and other employees. The schools and their unions fear the quality of instruction will decline under the new arrangements.
Monday’s strike was announced by 10 trade unions over the form of the Government’s consolidation package and pension reforms, the failure to raise salaries in the public sector, costly energy prices and high inflation. Union members say the adopted consolidation package can be changed and that it is necessary to adjust the way it has set up taxation.
Both larger and smaller enterprises joined the protest, but public transit was in full operation nationwide. The automobile manufacturer Škoda Auto in Mladá Boleslav halted production between 13:00 and 15:00 so employees from both shifts could actively participate in the strike.
Production was interrupted also at the Škoda Auto factories in Kvasiny and Vrchlabí. In front of the main factories in Mladá Boleslav a protest gathering was held at noon and attended by an estimated 10,000 people or more, according to the head of the unions there, Jaroslav Povšík.
Employees of the Ostrava-based metalworks company Vítkovice Steel also joined the strike for an hour. At noon they stopped production and refused to unload trucks waiting at the production unit.
Beer producer Budějovický Budvar did not join the strike. Those who were interested in showing support just wore a symbolic yellow band on their arms.
At the Bosch Powertrain firm in Jihlava, about 130 union members traveled to Prague for the demonstration. Several assembly lines limited operations because of the labor shortage.
The day of protests was convened by trade unions symbolically on the same day as the general strike during the Velvet Revolution of 1989, which contributed to the fall of the communist regime in what was then Czechoslovakia. The head of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů – ČMKOS), Josef Středula, criticized the Czech Government’s approach to social dialogue in his speech during the demonstration on the Lesser Town Square (Malostranské náměstí) in Prague.
According to Středula, the cabinet should reflect on how they have managed to unite people against them during the last two years. For his part, Czech Labor and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka (Christian Democrats – KDU-ČSL) declared that while he respects the unions’ protest, he does not consider its format to be the most fortunate at this moment.
According to Jurečka, there is still room for dialogue. He proposed a meeting to the unions after the demonstration in Prague on Monday, but they rejected the offer.
Středula told the Czech News Agency (ČTK) that a negotiation will be held only if the leaders of all five governing parties want to meet with the leaders of the unions. The Labor Minister had originally not intended to attend the demonstration in Prague.
Ultimately, however, Jurečka made it there after the event had ended. He did meet with some of the demonstrators who remained on the square.
Czech Finance Minister Zbyněk Stanjura (ODS) called the unions’ actions coercive and confrontational. Posting to the X social media site, Stanjura said it is impossible to add more money to health care, pensions and the schools across the board without ensuring that these fields will operate efficiently.
Political scientist Vlastimil Havlík, commenting on the strike, said Government budget cuts usually play into the hands of the opposition and result in polarization in society at a systemic level. The current Government, according to Havlík, is not aided by the fact that its communications are in some areas internally contradictory and therefore incomprehensible, sometimes bordering on arrogance.
Josef Mlejnek, another political scientist, said the strike is showing that Czech society is dissatisfied with its standard of living. According to him, the Government’s intention is to keep the budget deficit within acceptable limits, which is why it has announced it will not back down on the issue.
“Nevertheless, the strikers and the protesters are also voters, so if the protests continue, and if their intensity ratchets up, it is possible the cabinet will make some concessions,” he said.
