Negotiations to increase the salary scales of civil servants failed. The government suggested that it would add several hundred crowns to about half of the workers, but the unions rejected this and called the cabinet’s approach extortionate. “The union’s effort was to reach an agreement with the government, we reduced our demands, we wanted a compromise. The government came up with a proposal that we could not accept,” emphasizes Pavel Bednář, spokesman for the public sector trade unions.
What did you demand and what did the government offer you yesterday?
We initially demanded a 15 percent increase in salary scales in the entire public sector, but in the end we reassessed our opinion and reduced it to 10 percent. Finally, at Tuesday’s meeting, a compromise was reached at 7 percent. The union’s effort was to reach an agreement with the government, we reduced our demands, we wanted a compromise.
The government came up with a proposal that we could not accept. The government has decided that it will only increase the salary scales for some employees in table No. 1 from the 1st to the 7th salary class, where there are, for example, cleaners, janitors, and blue-collar professions. From the 8th to the 12th pay grade, where there are mainly officials, it will increase by only 3 percent. Other employees, i.e. 13th to 16th salary class, they would not be added at all, that is, for example, senior employees, junior staff and the like. This was unacceptable.
Why didn’t you at least do something? Wouldn’t at least a small increase for some professions be better than nothing?
Our decision was very painful. The employees need every crown, but it comes out to approximately 900 crowns on average for four months in gross, it would not be a significant amount. We were under a lot of pressure. The government was literally blackmailing us because they said: If you accept this, we hope you won’t have protests. If you don’t accept it, nothing will happen. And that is literally blackmail.
Are unions considering coercive action, such as a strike? Listen to the full interview.