Public transport to grind to a halt on Monday as trade unions go on strike

Public transport around the Czech Republic will grind to a halt in the early hours of Monday as the country’s trade unions go on strike. They will protest against higher taxation of employee benefits, introduced by the government at the beginning of this year. The strike is expected to affect all means of public transport and disrupt life around the country.

Trains, buses and trams in cities and towns across the Czech Republic will be at a standstill for five hours during Monday’s rush hour leaving hundreds of thousands of people to make their own way to work. The unions, pushing for lower taxation of their employee benefits, have called the strike between 4 and 9 AM in most major cities, including Brno, Plzeň, Pardubice, Hradec Králové, České Budějovice, Liberec and others. In Prague, it remains unclear whether the strike will only affect trams and buses, or whether the city’s metro employees will also join in. Trains will also be at a standstill. Luboš Pomajbík is the head of the Czech transport workers’ union.

Photo: Kristýna Maková

“Following negotiations with other branches of the trade unions, which took place on Tuesday, we believe the strike will take place around the whole country.”

The trade unions are pushing for a change of law which would bring taxation of employee benefits to 2009 levels. According to new legislation, which came into force in January as part of the government’s cost-cutting measures, employees benefits are taxed on the basis of their market value, rather than their prime costs. The unions say this will eventually make employers provide fewer and cheaper benefits to avoid taxation. The head of the Czech Railway’s union, Jaroslav Pejša, says more than train passes for employees and their families are at stake.

“People should know that besides employees’ train passes, this also involves other issues in other industries as well, such as canteens, in which higher taxation will make the price of lunches go up. It also involves accommodation facilities for employees where the tax would also lead to a price increase.”

An amendment to the law in question is expected to be debated in Parliament’s lower house at the beginning of March, but trade unions say they are sceptical that MPs will actually get to the point. The Chamber of Deputies, ridden with rivalry between the right-of centre Civic Democrats and a left-wing coalition of the Social Democrats and Communists, has been unable to pass anything in the past month or so. Jaroslav Pejša again.

“We said earlier that promises were not good enough; we want guarantees. This particular amendment has been three times scheduled for debate in the lower house. And each time, the point was not debated because the proceedings hit a snag. So waiting for March could jeopardize our demands.”

However, there is still a remote chance that public transport will function as usual on Monday. If MPs manage to change the legislation in question at their session this week, the trade unions would probably cancel the strike, adopting a less severe form of protest that would not affect hundreds of thousands of people trying to get to work.