This paper analyses the capacity of the Czech Republic’s social partners to effectively engage in social dialogue at various levels. The paper forms part of a wider, comparative project, managed by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Ireland) and the Work
On 1 June 2011, workers at the Ostrava Transport company (DPO [1]) went on strike after social partners had failed to agree on a salary increase for employees during collective bargaining. [1] http://www.dpo.cz/english/dpo_eng.htm
Government ministries are being forced to introduce cost-saving measures in 2010, reducing expenditure significantly. As a spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture of the Czech Republic (Ministerstvo zemědělství, MZe [1]), Petr Vorlíček, outlined: ‘The total volume of wages and salaries in our
At the end of September 2009, the Prague Public Transport Company (Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy, DPP [1]) reported a loss of CZK 2.34 billion (about €90.3 million as at 3 February 2010). While the company has shown a higher output, the volume of subsidies received from Prague City Hall
At the end of October 2009, a nationwide protest of farmers took place against the low purchase prices for milk, which was organised in regions by the farmers themselves. In at least eight localities across the Czech Republic, farmers poured hundreds of thousands of litres of milk into fields. The
In August 2009, the daily economic newspaper /Hospodářské Noviny/ published a long list of companies in the Czech Republic that have moved all or part of their production abroad, especially to Asia, because of lower labour costs. The listed names include traditional Czech brands such as: the pencils
The Czech Republic’s national airline company, Czech Airlines (České aerolinie, ČSA [1]), is currently facing an economic crisis, recording a loss of CZK 1.8 billion (about €68.5 million as at 12 January 2010) in the first quarter of 2009 and with losses exceeding CZK 2 billion (€76 million)
A strike by drivers of Prague’s public transport system seems more likely than ever before in recent years. All of the 14 trade unions operating in the Prague Public Transit Company Inc. (Dopravní podnik hlavního města Prahy a.s. [1]) joined forces at the end of June 2009 to request additional funds
The labour market situation in the Czech Republic has deteriorated in the course of 2009. The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic (Svaz průmyslu a dopravy ČR, SP ČR [1]) – the largest of the national employer organisations – forecasts that the unemployment rate will reach a double-digit
The global economic crisis has affected domestic companies heavily, having primarily had an impact on the volume of orders which declined considerably. According to the Czech Statistical Office (Český statistický úřad, ČSÚ [1]), the year-on-year decline in industrial production in February 2009
Czech Airlines (České aerolinie, a.s., ČSA [1]) has informed the Labour Office (Úřad práce, ÚP [2]) about potential mass redundancies of up to 200 employees from the current 4,700-strong workforce. With this move, the company fulfilled its statutory duty in case such a dismissal were to occur – that