Weekly newsletter

Unions against Restricting Teachers’ Strike Rights

MTI-Hungary Today 2022.05.24.

Five Hungarian trade union federations have protested against a bill seen as seeking to curb the rights of teachers to strike.

The federations SZEF, ESZT, LIGA, MSZSZ and MOSZ said in a statement that they had been “shocked” to learn that the bill on lifting the state of emergency imposed in response to the pandemic in Hungary would contain passages “significantly” restricting the current rights of teachers.

The unions demand that the government drop the bill, which would eliminate the current practice of employer-employee talks on minimum services during the strike before starting the action, as well as an opportunity for teachers to appeal to a court should those talks prove futile.

Teachers' Union PSZ Calls on Lawmakers to Reject Strike Law Amendment Proposal
Teachers' Union PSZ Calls on Lawmakers to Reject Strike Law Amendment Proposal

Under Hungarian law consultations must be held with social partners before passing legislation, PSZ said in a statement, adding that no such consultations had taken place with the government.Continue reading

Should parliament wish to define minimum services in a law, they should be defined on the basis of earlier court rulings, the unions said in their statement.

The proposed restriction would serve “neither employees’ nor employers’ real interests”, the statement said.

Featured photo: Teachers stand in front of the Földes Ferenc High School in Miskolc with a banner saying “Strike is a fundamental right!” Photo via the Facebook page of the PDSZ – Democratic Trade Union of Teachers


Array
(
    [1536x1536] => Array
        (
            [width] => 1536
            [height] => 1536
            [crop] => 
        )

    [2048x2048] => Array
        (
            [width] => 2048
            [height] => 2048
            [crop] => 
        )

)