Thousands of trade unionists in Prague demanded an end to real wages
Update: 10/8/2022 2:54 p.m
Issued by: 8/10/2022, 1:48 p.m
Prague – Trade unionists on Prague’s Wenceslas Square called on the government to introduce price regulation and stop the decline in real wages. They warned of the effects of high inflation and threats of layoffs in industrial enterprises. The Chairman of the Kovo Trade Union, Roman Ďurčo, pointed out that today’s action may not be the last and that the unions may be tougher. According to the police estimate, several thousand protesters gathered in the square. The chairman of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, Josef Středula, emphasized that the event was not extremist.
In a joint statement, the unions called for an end to inflation, which reduces real incomes. According to them, the government should mainly regulate energy, food and fuel prices. They also demand an increase in the minimum wage this year by 2,000 crowns to 18,200 crowns. According to them, from January 1, salaries in the public sector should increase by ten percent, and the percentage of sick and nursing pay should increase by 20 percent, and social benefits should also increase. The unions also called for the nationalization of critical infrastructure in energy and water management.
Union leaders at the demonstrations drew attention to the drop in real wages as a result of high inflation. Středula, who will run for president next year, quoted the first Czech head of state, Václav Havel, that indifference to the second destiny of the whole is what opens the door to evil. According to him, the demonstrators on Wenceslas Square are those who are afraid of the future. According to him, the government reacts to the crisis slowly and insufficiently.
In his speech, Ďurčo recalled the rise in energy and food prices. According to him, the government is slow to help and, moreover, puts citizens who need help in an undignified position. According to him, companies are getting into a critical situation and there is a threat of their closing. “The ship industry is starting to sink slowly, this is unacceptable for us,” he said. “The government must guide citizens and companies through today’s crisis so that no one who works and fulfills the budget is harmed,” he said.
The president of the health and social care trade union, Dagmar Žitníková, called for a ceiling on prices and ensuring a dignified life for people. According to her, regulated prices already work in the healthcare sector, so they can also be in other sectors. “Those who want, look for a way, those who don’t want, look for a reason. Government, look for ways. If you don’t want to look for them, it goes differently,” she said.
Trade unionists started gathering at the demonstration about an hour before the start of the protest. In addition to trade union representatives, who wore flags and reflective vests with the logos of individual trade unions, supporters of the left-wing non-parliamentary parties ČSSD and KSČM also arrived at the event. Protesters filled roughly the upper quarter of the square. The police estimated their number at several thousand, so the demonstration had a significantly lower turnout than earlier trade union anti-government protests that attracted tens of thousands of people a decade ago. Still, Středula expressed satisfaction with the participation and refused to compare it with the September protests of opponents of the government. “Exactly those who came wanted came. The demonstration was not extremist in any way. We did everything so that anyone who wanted something to do with extremism did not come to our demonstration. And I think we did well,” he told reporters.
The demonstration lasted about an hour and a half, and ended with the national anthem. According to the police, who deployed more than a hundred police officers and members of the anti-conflict team to the place of the protest, the event was without problems.