Czechs go on strike against reforms

Hospitals and polyclinics, schools and kindergartens, trains and trams – these are some of the services Czechs had to do without for an hour on Tuesday. Between 1 and 2 pm, the Czech Republic saw a nation-wide strike against the government’s public finance reforms, one of the biggest protests in the country since the fall of communism.

Photo: CTK

At the entrance to one of Prague’s oldest hospitals in Vinohrady, people arriving on Tuesday morning are welcomed by several medical staff on strike. At a small table, they take people’s blood pressure while explaining why they are taking part in a country-wide protest against government reforms. Mocking new fees introduced this year by Health Minister Tomáš Julínek, they hand patients fake banknotes featuring Mr Julínek’s portrait. Doctor Miloš Voleman is a member of the hospital’s labour union.

“The strike has been in progress since 8 AM; this is an accompanying event when we perform some small clinical tests – we are taking people’s blood pressure. But in contrast to normal days, when patients pay 30 crowns to visit a doctor, today we pay our patients 30 julineks.”

But what do the visitors themselves think of the protest action?

“I agree with the strike because my daughter works in the intensive care unit at a hospital. I know what it involves and all the things she has to do, and what she gets in return.”

“I don’t support it; I don’t like it at all. I think it is absolutely pointless.”

Photo: CTK

“I think the government’s reform, apart from some minor details concerning for example the issue of university hospitals, is not entirely bad. And I believe that after some discussions, the reform should be carried out. As they explained to us here at the medical school, the reform does not seem bad; it seems reasonable and interesting.”

The hospital website says that only two percent of the staff joined in the strike. However, elsewhere in the country, the numbers have been much higher. Besides hospitals, some Czech cities and towns saw public transport and even trains stop for the hour between 1 and 2 pm, while in Prague, protesters blocked a major artery in the city centre. The protest has been organized by the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Labour Unions, whose deputy chairman Zdeněk Málek hopes the strike will force the government to negotiate with critics of the reforms.

Photo: CTK

“We are not against reforms as such. But we would like to be a part of the reform. That means that the government should listen to our views, to those of the opposition, social partners, and the civil society as such. This has not yet happened.”

On Wednesday, an estimated 900,000 people have taken part in the largest protest the country has seen since 1989. The umbrella labour union organisation says if ministers refuse to listen and hold further talks about the public finance reforms they won’t go down without a fight.