Unions fail to reach agreement with ministers on state sector employee wage increase

Trade unions representing state sector employees failed to reach agreement on a wage increase for next year in talks on Friday, although negotiations are set to continue. Workers in the sector would like to see an increase of about six or seven percent, something opposed by Labour and Social Affairs Minister Pet Necas and Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, who do not want to go beyond 1.5. Mr Necas has said a quicker pay increase is unacceptable for the government, aiming to tackle the public finance debt.