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.
Strike details
The all-day strike on 8 December 2010 was joined primarily by employees of public administration, schools, and health and cultural institutions who were protesting at planned budget cuts. The wages of public sector employees are to be cut, in order to save 10% of the public wage bill (CZ1009019I). Other changes in the remuneration scheme for public servants were another reason for the strike.
According to the strike organiser, the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (ČMKOS), the strike was directly attended by 148,000 strikers and supported by another 190,000 people. Protest meetings also took place in Prague and other Czech regions, involving 15,825 people.
Trade unionists say that about 500 schools remained closed and about 2,000 schools had to reduce their working hours. Some offices were also closed, including the National Library of the Czech Republic (NK); some employees of the National Museum (NM) and the National Theatre (ND) also joined the protest. Health care facilities where workers went on strike remained open but with limited service. At noon, protest meetings were held in 21 Bohemian and Moravian towns. The biggest assembly took place in Prague and was attended by around 1,500 dissatisfied employees.
Widespread support
The strike was supported by police officers, firefighters and soldiers to whom the projected cuts apply but who are not by law allowed to strike.
Solidarity was also expressed by other trade unions in sectors not affected by the proposed reduction in public expenditure, including:
- Czech Metalworkers’ Federation KOVO (OS KOVO);
- Trade Union of Building Workers of the Czech Republic (OS STAVBA ČR);
- OS ECHO (formed from the merger of the Energy Workers’ Trade Union, OSE, and the Czech Chemicals Trade Union, OS Chemie).
The strike also received support from European and international-level organisations and their representatives:
- John Monks, General Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC);
- Carola Fischbach-Pyttel, General Secretary of the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU);
- Georgios Dassis, President of the employees’ group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC);
- International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC);
- Confederation of German Trade Unions (DGB);
- Integrated Trade Union Association of Slovak Republic (IOZ);
- General Portuguese Workers’ Confederation (CGTP).
Politicians from opposition parties also came to support the strikers. Bohuslav Sobotka, Chair of the Czech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD), Richard Falbr, a Czech Member of the European Parliament, and Vojtěch Filip, Chair of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM) turned up at the biggest protest assembly in Prague.
No tangible results
However, the strike did not bring any tangible results. The planned changes were adopted by the government one day before the strike on 7 December 2010 and the government has no intention of changing its position.
Prime Minister Petr Nečas (Civic Democratic Party, ODS) thanked everybody who did not want to strike, saying that he ‘appreciated their sense of civic responsibility’.
The strike was also criticised by the Czech President, Václav Klaus: ‘The strike ended ridiculously because of low attendance. Trade union leaders pretend to be bosses of something they are not actually heading’.
Soňa Veverková, Research Institute for Labour and Social Affairs (RILSA)