09.06.2008 - Czech unions stage new protest against government' reforms
Like during Canada's foreign minister quits ...
Roithova to lead Czech KDU-CSL candidates in EP election ... the previous protests, the demonstrators gathered outside the Government Office on the day when the cabinet held its regular meeting there.
The union leaders accuse the government of Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) of having taken measures in the situation of the currently growing inflation which have decreased the real wages in health care, education and the public sphere.
According to the organisers, some 2000 people took part in today's protest.
The organisers from the umbrella Bohemian and Moravian Trade Union Confederation (CMKOS) staged the demonstration on the same day when many Czech schools declared a one-day strike to demonstrate their discontent with wages in regional education that according to them, decreased this year.
About 6000 schools of all type - elementary, secondary and nursery - which is more than half of all regional schools have joined the protest, the union leaders say.
More than 130,000 employees stopped work, Marketa Vondrackova, deputy chairwoman of the Czech education unions, told CTK today.
Education Minister Ondrej Liska (junior governing Green Party, SZ) came to Prague's Jan Neruda high school where he had a discussion with teachers.
Previously the unions demanded an increase in this year's regional education budget by 3 billion crowns but the government has only agreed to allot an additional 500 million crowns.
The unions also disagree that the wage increase only applies to teachers while the wages of other educational workers remained the same.
In the previous three demonstrations outside the Government Office the unions mainly protested against Health Minister Tomas Julinek's (ODS) planned health care reform.
The protests against the government's reforms will culminate on June 24 on which the CMKOS declared a one-hour warning strike nationwide.
Many other union centres have announced they will join the protest while other union organisations are only considering their participation and form of the protest.
($1=15.762 Czech crowns)
(Ceske Noviny)
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