Many Czech children have no school this Monday. Your teachers are on strike. Thousands of schools and preschools in the Czech Republic are to remain closed on Monday, up to 70 percent of all facilities. But there are also plans to strike on Monday in offices and authorities, public libraries, universities, hospitals and in industry. The school strike alone could be the largest since 1990, and overall the country is expecting a day of strikes that the Czech Republic is hardly familiar with.
The Bohemian-Moravian Trade Union Confederation ČMKOS, the largest workers’ representative in the Czech Republic, has declared this Monday a “Day of Protest for a Better Future of the Czech Republic”. Together they want to campaign for an “end to cheap work”, against the “arrogance of power” and the “decline in living standards”.
There were no real reforms under the previous government
The conservative-liberal five-party coalition, which has governed Prague since the end of 2021, made various cuts in social benefits this year. Just this week another law to consolidate the budget was passed. Prime Minister Petr Fiala believes it is absolutely necessary because the country is sliding deeper and deeper into debt. However, President Petr Pavel did not take his signature lightly and considered it for a long time. Shortly after taking office in March, he had to sign a law on pension reform – he took his time for this too and listened to the opposition’s concerns.
In the last election to the House of Representatives in October 2021, the previously ruling oligarch Andrej Babiš lost his majority. Since then he has led the opposition with his left-wing populist Ano party. In January he lost significantly to Petr Pavel in the runoff election for the presidency. In surveys, however, Babiš’s party now has voter approval of up to 35 percent. If the House of Representatives were to be re-elected, Babiš could easily take over the government again – together with the right-wing extremist SPD party, with which he shares the opposition bench.
Babiš had always been accused of only handing out good gifts – a few special pension payments before elections, higher salaries for teachers. But critics accused him of no real reforms. The pension reform passed in March is now intended to better distribute pension payments so that not only pensioners with good salaries, but especially those with little income, benefit from the next increase. A week ago, the Ministry of Social Affairs also announced that the retirement age should be raised to over 65 from 2025.
Health insurance contributions and real estate taxes are to be increased
And now massive changes to the law are set to come into force on January 1st to ease the burden on the budget. President Pavel signed the so-called consolidation package last Wednesday. The discussion about this has been going on since the spring. The government would like to have the equivalent of around six billion euros more in the state treasury in the next two years. Various tax reliefs are to be repealed. The VAT rate that applies to many foods is to be increased from the current ten to a uniform twelve percent.
But health insurance contributions and real estate taxes should also be increased, and tax breaks for spouses without income should be abolished. From the opposition’s point of view, the whole thing is a tax increase package and is also damaging to the economy. However, the independent National Budget Council had repeatedly called for urgent measures to stop further national debt. President Pavel now explained his signature as follows: “Even the Czech Republic cannot spend more than it takes in in the long run.”
“People are really very angry,” union leader Josef Středula said on Czech television at the weekend. The government should not be surprised; it has listened far too little to the unions. Středula complains, among other things, about the ongoing burden on private households and industry caused by high energy prices. School employees are particularly annoyed by the general cuts. Although their salaries were increased, at the same time staff cuts were made and the number of teaching hours increased.
Labor and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka still doesn’t understand all the fuss. He repeatedly argued against the unions why there should be a strike now when inflation is falling and salaries will rise next year. On Monday he now wants to forego visits to Brussels and speak to people at the rallies in Prague.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Andrej Babiš sides with the protest. The government has “lost touch with reality a long time ago,” he writes on his Facebook account, where he presents himself sitting at his desk in his usual manner, newspapers and files in front of him and looking over his reading glasses, explaining his view of things. He also shows up there with political friends. This includes the newly elected Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who is preparing to restructure his country’s police and judiciary in such a way that neither he nor his party colleagues can continue to be investigated for corruption allegations. Fico made his inaugural visit to Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in Prague on Friday and then met with Babiš, who was born in Slovakia.