Nine trade unions declare strike emergency in effort to get concessions on wage increases

Nine trade unions representing various groups of workers in the public sector declared a strike emergency on Monday to support their attempts at securing wage increases in light of the double digit inflation rate that is currently affecting the country. Aside from civil servants and education workers, these include health and culture sector employees. Four further trade unions have voiced their support for the action, the spokesman of public sector unions Pavel Bednář told the Czech News Agency which reported the news on Monday.

The unions agreed to gradually declare their preparedness to strike last week, after unsuccessful negotiations with the government. Labour Minister Marian Jurečka has said that the government is prepared to raise public sector salaries this year and that negotiations are still ongoing. Last week, union leaders said that the government’s proposed salary increases where wholly insufficient.

According to the Czech Statistics Agency, public sector workers’ real wages have been impacted the hardest this year so far, falling by an average of 8.4 percent.