Unions prepared to take action against government reforms

On Thursday, Czech unions launched a renewed attack on the government's financial reform package, in response to the Senate approving the reforms the previous evening. At a press conference on Thursday morning, the head of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, Milan Stech, told journalists that the reforms would not benefit the Czech Republic's lowest earners, families and pensioners. He added that he would be prepared to organize protests, should that be the move that his colleagues would like him to take. Unions protested against the reform package earlier this year, most notably on Prague's Wenceslas Square in June. Having been approved by both the lower and upper houses, the reforms are now just waiting for the green-light from President Vaclav Klaus.