On 21 May, following the breakdown of talks between the trade unions and the government over social reforms in late April, some 40,000 people took part in a demonstration in Prague against these reform plans organised by the Bohemian and Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (CMKOS). In the weeks before the rally, the unions had run a campaign, ‘Open your eyes’, to explain to people the implications of the government’s proposals. The protest ended with the adoption of a resolution stating that the plans are treacherous and will harm employees and the disabled. The reforms “throw health care, pensions and social care into the services of profit,” Josef Stredula, from the Kovo union organisation, quoted from the statement (See also this Collective Bargaining Newsletter Year 4 April 2011).
English: http://www.ceskenoviny.cz/news/zpravy/czech-unions-protest-against ...
http://www.praguepost.com/news/8789-tens-of-thousand-protest-against-government.html
This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.