Czech government approves public sector pay rise from January

The Czech government has approved a pay rise of CZK 1,400 from January, of which CZK 1,000 will be an increase to base salaries and CZK 400 will be allocated for bonuses, outgoing Finance Minister Alena Schillerová announced on Wednesday.

Teachers will see their salaries rise by 3 percent. Meanwhile, those health workers earning up to the public sector’s level seven pay grade will earn CZK 1,400 more and those above will see their income raised by 6 percent, the finance minister said. The cabinet also approved pay increases for defence sector workers and soldiers.

The orginal proposal counted on a flat pay rise of CZK 1,400. Zbyněk Stanjura of the Civic Democrats, who is likely to become the future finance minister as he is the winning Together coalition candidate, said on Sunday that his government would cancel such an executive order. He said it would be unfair to raise all workers’ salaries equally. Rather, pay rises should be dependent on performance, Mr Stanjura said.