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Czech.Republic

Background information on industrial relations in Czech.Republic

• 22 Nov 2011
  Czech Republic: Social partners attack ‘unrealistic’ 2012 state budget

  The Czech government approved the state budget for 2012 on 21 September 2011, even though trade unions and employers disagree with it. They say it is based on an unrealistic projection of the growth in the gross domestic product (GDP). Trade unions also criticise the fact that the budget’s revenue and expenditure proposals are based on laws not yet adopted by Parliament. Although the Czech Prime Minister agrees the projected growth rate may be too optimistic, he has so far refused to revise the budget.

• 18 Nov 2011
  Czech Republic: Government gives go-ahead on short time work scheme

  After months of lobbying, unions and employers in the Czech Republic have finally got the Government to draft proposals for a deal called ‘kurzarbeit’. The scheme means that if companies reduce their workers’ hours because of a fall in business, the employees’ lost earnings are made up by the state. The company, in turn, must promise not to dismiss any workers. The arrangement was first included in a recovery plan agreed at a tripartite meeting with the Czech government in 2010.

• 24 Aug 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech transport workers strike

  In June 2011, there was growing strike activity by trade unions in the Czech Republic. It started with a strike of public transport employees in Ostrava, asking for a higher wage increase than that offered by their employer. The action was limited to the Ostrava area, lasted six days and ended in a compromise. However, a one-day strike announced by transport trade unions had wider impact, stopping railway transport, paralysing public transport in Prague and affecting other cities.

• 01 Aug 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: The representativeness of trade unions and employer associations in the banking sector

  The Czech banking sector is dominated by big banking houses. The overwhelming majority of banks are owned by foreign parent banks, primarily from the EU. The sector is stable and the financial crisis had a very limited impact on banks operating in the Czech Republic. Social dialogue in the sector can be traced back to the early 1990s, not only at the company level but also at the sectoral one. In terms of the number of employers and employees affected by collective agreements, both levels of collective bargaining, i.e. company and higher, are comparably significant.

• 29 Jul 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: EIRO CAR on ‘Helping young workers during the crisis: contributions by social partners and public authorities.’

  The global trend of a worsening young people’s employment rate has hit the Czech Republic too. In the period prior to the economic crisis the Czech Republic managed to increase the employment rate significantly, in particular thanks to its strong economic growth (4.5-6.8% in years 2004-2007), which helped to create new jobs. The positive development was interrupted by the onset of the financial and economic crisis, when the unemployment rate grew significantly. The crisis had an adverse impact on the supply of job opportunities for young people entering the labour market. In 2009 the unemployment rate of young people rose to 16.6%, whereas in the period prior to the economic crisis it decreased even to a level below 10%.

• 15 Jul 2011
  Czech Republic: Škoda Auto pay deal halts strike threat

  The threat of strike action by workers at car manufacturers Škoda Auto in the Czech Republic was lifted when the company and unions agreed a 4% wage increase on 31 March 2011. Unions had asked for a 7% rise, with the company originally offering 0.5%. They were also given a one-off performance bonus, plus some other bonuses. Unions were determined to hold out for more money after hearing that bonuses had been paid to workers in other factories owned by parent company Volkswagen.

• 15 Jul 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech ministers disagree on company kindergartens

  The Czech government is looking for a way to promote the establishment of company kindergartens by helping businesses overcome the hurdles of high cost and strict regulation. It is responding to an alarming lack of capacity in pre-school childcare operated by the municipalities. Nevertheless, government ministers in different departments cannot agree on what practical state support should be offered or about what form financial help from the government should take.

• 22 Jun 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: EIRO CAR on “SMEs in the crisis: Employment. Industrial Relations and Local Partnership”

  In the Czech Republic small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the driving force for the business sector, growth and competitiveness. SMEs too have been affected by the economic crisis: revenues, employment, added value and investments have fallen in the SMEs sector, and the number of SMEs has shrunk, as has their contribution to total revenues in the economy. It seems the SMEs sector withstood the crisis on the whole better than the rest of the economy.

• 21 Jun 2011
  Czech Republic: Nationwide protest meeting of trade unionists

  Czech trade union leaders met in Prague on 19 February, 2011, to discuss how they will act together against proposed government reforms to the pension system, healthcare, taxation and the labour code. The protest meeting, of members of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, (ČMKOS) was attended by more than 1,000 heads of trade union affiliates. They have now launched a campaign to raise public awareness and have announced they may consider a general strike.

• 14 Jun 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: Representativeness study of the European social partners organisations: Public administration sector

  Current legislation gives only a very limited space for collective bargaining on pay and pay demands in the public administration sector. Collective bargaining in the Czech Republic takes place only in the private sector, as the public sector lacks partners to bargain for higher-level collective agreements on the part of the employer. The NACE occupations relevant to this study are represented by four main trade unions. However, other trade unions may represent individuals working in the public administration sector, as trade unions accept members from sectors and professions other than those for which they were originally established.

• 23 May 2011
  Czech Republic: Amendments to social and labour law come into force

  Amendments to the Czech Labour Code came into force on 1 January 2011, liberalising the labour laws and making it easier for businesses to hire and fire workers and scale back social welfare entitlements. Employment contract regulations have been tightened to stop employers avoiding welfare payments, and it was also hoped that the amendments would help cut public expenditure. However, the changes are less extensive than those originally envisaged by the government.

• 11 May 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: The representativeness of trade unions and employer associations in the commerce sector

  The Czech Republic’s commerce sector has been almost completely privatised since 1990. Despite the presence of international chains, small and medium-sized businesses still prevail. Sectoral social partners are engaged in collective bargaining at the sectoral level, and higher-level collective agreements have been concluded since 1994. These agreements have not, however, extended to wage scale negotiations, mainly because of the enormous diversity of commercial businesses and the current economic conditions.

• 02 May 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Post plans to dismiss up to 1,700 people

  The Czech Post, one of the biggest employers in the Czech Republic with 35,000 staff, is to shut 1,500 branches (half its network) and dismiss up to 1,700 workers. Branches in rural areas will be particularly affected by the plan. Specific details of the redundancies are still to be discussed by the postal trade union and the company management. Unions say there is no need for so many job cuts, and the general public are afraid of having to travel further to get a poorer service.

• 21 Apr 2011
  Czech Republic: Representativeness study of the European social partner organisations: Education sector – Czech Republic

  The aim of this representativeness study is to identify the respective national and supranational actors (i.e. trade unions and employer organisations) in the field of industrial relations in the education sector in the Czech Republic. In order to determine their relative importance in the sector’s industrial relations, this study will, in particular, focus on their representational quality as well as on their role in collective bargaining.

• 19 Apr 2011
  Czech Republic: Police and firefighting unions want minister to resign

  Police and firefighters in the Czech Republic are being asked to sign a petition calling for the Minister of the Interior to resign. Unions feel he has lost credibility by failing to secure enough funds to pay wages and running costs. They add that, if he does not go, they will consider copying the recent ‘Thank you, we’re leaving’ action by the nation’s doctors. Public sector workers’ pay has been cut by 10%, and unions say the effect of this has been made worse by cuts in bonuses.

• 29 Mar 2011
  Czech Republic: Nurses divided over doctors’ resignation campaign

  The resignation campaign by hospital doctors in the Czech Republic has led to an offer of cash for hospitals by the government. However, the health minister will not guarantee the money will be spent only on doctors’ pay, and the country’s 80,000 hospital nurses are divided over the doctors’ action. Some support the campaign, arguing that there is a need for health care reform and to retain doctors. However, others believe nurses should also share in any wage increases.

• 15 Feb 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: EIRO CAR on “The effect of the Information and Consultation Directive on Industrial Relations in the EU Member States five years after its transposition“

  In the Czech Republic the employees’ rights to information and consultation are embedded in the Labour Code. Most frequently trade unions act as I&C bodies. Provisions on information and consultation and governance of these processes beyond the scope of the Labour Code appear in a growing number of collective agreements. Although employee representatives are often provided with information as prescribed by the Labour Code, their influence on the ultimate decision by the management is not always a very strong one.

• 14 Feb 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: Industrial Relations in the Health Care Sector

  Over the past twenty years the Czech health care system underwent radical changes which were not always positively accepted by the public, trade unions as well as by professional organizations (privatisation of health care facilities, a fee paid for a visit to the doctor etc.). However, financing of the entire system which is based, more or less, on general health insurance only, remains a substantial problem. This system at preserving the existing quality of healthcare is not sustainable in the long run, but any attempt to reform the system has met with unwillingness and up to now any minister of health has not got enough political support to push the health care reform through. Therefore, the health care system in the CR can be characterized by constant efforts to make changes which encounter resistance and which result in “cosmetic” modifications, not in important changes to the system. It is also linked with rewarding and working conditions of medical personnel, both being limited by financial restraints of funds from general health insurance and being a subject of frequent protests.

• 11 Feb 2011
  Czech Republic: Public servants strike against government budget cuts

  An all-day strike of public sector employees on 8 December 2010, organised by the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (ČMKOS) in protest at government budget cuts, involved some 148,000 strikers and was supported by many more people. Protest meetings were also held in Prague and other Czech regions. There was widespread support from other trade unions (national and international) and opposition politicians, but the strike did not produce any tangible results.

• 28 Jan 2011
  Czech Republic: Hospital doctors’ resignation campaign

  Czech hospital doctors are collectively handing in resignation notices as part of a campaign, ‘Thank you, we’re leaving’, announced in March 2010 by the doctors’ trade union (LOK-SČL) in protest at the poor state of the health care sector. Some trade unions in the sector have expressed support for the campaign but not others. The Minister of Health does not underestimate the gravity of the situation but is confident not all the doctors will actually leave to go abroad.

• 11 Jan 2011
  Czech Republic: Czech Republic: EIRO Annual Review - 2009

  Social dialogue and collective bargaining in 2009 were affected by the current economic crisis, which had an impact particularly on collective bargaining for wages and salaries. Based on the trade union data, the number of employees protected by collective agreements has also decreased.