On 23 June 2007, demonstrators gathered in front of the Trade Union Association House in Prague and marched through the city centre, causing significant traffic disruptions. According to the protest’s organisers, about 35,000 people attended the demonstration; however, some media reports estimated that the figure was closer to around 10,000 people.
In June 2007, the largest trade union organisation, the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, along with the Association of Autonomous Trade Unions, organised a demonstration in protest against the government’s draft public finance reforms. The protestors deem the proposed reforms to be particularly unjust to low-income families, those with children, pensioners and employees.
On 23 June 2007, demonstrators gathered in front of the Trade Union Association House in Prague and marched through the city centre, causing significant traffic disruptions. According to the protest’s organisers, about 35,000 people attended the demonstration; however, some media reports estimated that the figure was closer to around 10,000 people.
Protest participants
Participating in the protest were members of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (Českomoravská konfederace odborových svazů, ČMKOS) and the Association of Autonomous Trade Unions (Asociace samostatných odborů, ASO). The demonstration was also attended by members of a number of other organisations, not all of them trade unions: these included the Council of Pensioners (Rada seniorů), the Rent-payers’ Association (Sdružení nájemníků, SON), the Railway Trade Union (Odborové sdružení železničářů, OSŽ) and the Physicians’ Trade Union Club (Lékařský odborový klub, LOK), among others. The President of the German DGB Saxony Trade Union branch (DGB Bezirk Sachsen), Hanjo Lucassen, gave a speech in support of the demonstration. Support was also given by other trade union members of DGB Bezirk Sachsen, along with 80 members of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund, ÖGB). Also present were the Chair of the Czech Social Democratic Party (Česká strana sociálně demokratická, ČSSD), Jiří Paroubek, and the European Parliament member and former ČMKOS chair, Richard Falbr.
At the end of the protest, the demonstrators issued a declaration in which they agreed with the need for public finance reforms, but not with the manner of the reforms proposed by the government. In particular, they consider the proposals to be unjust and harmful to low-income families, those with children, pensioners and employees. The protestors accused the government of hiding the real intentions behind the reforms and their consequences.
Trade unions threaten general strike
It is unlikely that the government will listen to the trade unions’ demands to stop or radically change the reforms. The ASO President, Bohumír Dufek, together with its Vice-president, Jaromír Dušek, sent a letter to Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and other government members. The letter requested a deferral of the discussions on public finance reforms, as the draft proposals contain a number of problematic, disputable and unacceptable points (an analysis conducted by ČMKOS contains the same opinion).
The Prime Minister’s reply to this letter was that the reforms had been drafted under a degree of time pressure, as he wants them to be introduced by 1 January 2008. He outlined that any further postponement would threaten the state of the public finances and restrict the Czech Republic’s access to EU structural funds. It appears that this was also the reason given why discussions had been cut short on the reforms of the tripartite Council of Economic and Social Agreement (Rada hospodářské a sociální dohody, RHSD), which took place in May 2007.
As it is not expected that the government will back down, the ASO is planning to hold a general strike. ČMKOS, which is considering other forms of pressure on the government – such as meetings with members of parliament and an information campaign – has not yet offered its support to ASO’s planned protest action. However, the confederation’s President, Milan Štěch, did not rule out the possibility of a general strike, insisting that: ‘If the government’s arrogance continues and it keeps preparing these draft reforms, and if the majority of members will share the opinion, then we are prepared to call a general strike.’
Government and employer reaction
Meanwhile, the Mayor of Prague, Pavel Bém of the government party, the Civic Democratic Party (Občanská demokratická strana, ODS), stated that he is interested in avoiding a general strike, as it would be too costly. However, he refused to back down from the government’s intentions to revitalise public finances and considers the draft reforms to be moderate.
The employers largely support the draft reforms, or only have slight reservations (CZ0706049I); as a result, they consider the trade union demonstration to be unreasonable. For example, the President of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises’ (SME) Union Czech Republic, (Unie malých a středních podniků), David Šeich, stated that ‘the unions have moved away from substantive and constructive discussions and turned to using populistic and demagogical slogans’.
Sona Veverkova, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs
Eurofound recommends citing this publication in the following way.
Eurofound (2007), Unions resolutely opposed to public finance reforms, article.
