Preparations for strike intensify

Preparations for a day-long nationwide transport strike, set for Thursday, June 16, have continued to grow in intensity. Along with the expected freeze of all public transport in major towns and cities including the capital, a demonstration has been planned in the centre of Prague. The transport unions have also warned they will send a sharp message to the government over its planned reforms by using blockades in key areas.

Less than forty-eight hours away, it appears little can be done to derail Thursday’s strike, the largest such protest in more than 10 years, expected to paralyze public transport nationwide. The government is aware of the situation and on Monday Prime Minister Petr Nečas urged the unions to come back to the negotiating table, but whatever happens, organisers stressed there was no stopping things now: Thursday’s strike will go ahead.

‘Frozen’ in the Czech capital will be all tram and bus lines and most certainly also the Prague metro upon which hundreds of thousands of commuters rely. The unions negotiated with the Prague Transport Company leadership that wants to keep the service running but didn't see eye to eye. On Monday’s here’s what company head Martin Dvořák had to say:

Prime Minister Petr Nečas, Transport Minister Radek Šmerda, photo: CTK

“They want the metro to stop at all costs. We say ‘no way’.”

Regarding the metro, then, all bets are off, and the unions have again stressed trains will not run. That means commuters will have to plan to hoof it, drive, or bike to work. Elsewhere, in cities such as Ostrava, the strike plan has also grown as more local lines are threatening to join, and even non-transport unions such as the doctors’, nurses and teachers’ are expressing solidarity in opposition to the government’s fiscal reforms, promising to hand out leaflets in the workplace. The unions can also take strength from the fact that, according to one poll, three-fifths of the public are backing the strike. By contrast, some - like the country’s president – suggest that the government should not be taking criticism lying down, but on the contrary should be hitting back. In Plzeň on Monday Václav Klaus outlined what he would do if he were the one in charge:

Václav Klaus, photo: CTK

“I think that the government should be resolute and should not back down. They need to show those who regularly run public transport that they don’t have a monopoly, that they could lose their place."

Thursday’s strike will last a full 24 hours and for many regular commuters the business of getting to and from work will be unpleasant. To compound difficulties, many will opt to travel by car, which could lead to gridlock, especially in the capital. The emergency services have responded by saying they will have an extra rescue helicopter standing-by. One area where the unions have budged at least somewhat since the weekend is that of blockades. Initially the unions promised they would be on many major routes, a strategy that was questioned by some, including political analyst Jiří Pehe:

“Blocking roads and coming up with other forms of protest to add to the strike, could turn the public against them; another problem is that blockades can be misused by radical groups, and the unions, quite frankly, don’t always have control over such actions.”

Photo: Jana Šustová

The unions have since re-cast the idea, saying that blockades will not broadly affect commuters but only the so-called ‘papaláši’ (to quote their use of a derogatory Czech term for people of importance); in this case they presumably have in mind representatives of the government, although how they expect to affect ‘only’ them and not others remains to be seen.