15-06-2011, 08:48 PM
On Monday 16 June, this protest wave will flood the Czech Republic, and above all its capital, with massive strike and blockades planned by the country's labor unions on the same day. The capital is expected to be totally paralyzed - it is likely that even the subway will not operate.
Tthe strike was to take place on Monday June 13. After the Prague municipal court ruled it illegal, arguing that the organizers had failed to announce the protest three working days in advance it was moved to Thursday June 16 .
The strike will be probably the largest protest against the center-right government established approximately one year ago and the austerity reforms it plans. However, rather than by popular protests, the coalition is currently threatened above all by its own internal rupture, and it is increasingly uncertain whether it will be able to complete its full term.
Public transport halted, transit arteries blocked
Public transport in several other important cities in addition to the capital - Brno, Plzeň, Opava, Olomouc - is expected to come to a halt as well. In addition, unionists in some other cities, such as Ostrava, are still negotiating their possible participation in the strike.
The strike will start at 3 AM, and because no time limit is set, it is not sure when it will end. There are rumors going that it should end at 4 PM, but this has been neither confirmed nor denied by trade unions. "The day has 24 hours," said a member of one of the labor unions.
Both passenger and freight trains will stop at 3 AM and won't resume their operation until 4 PM, assured JaromÃr DuÅ¡ek, a labor union leader. This will include international high-speed trains which will have to wait at the Czech borders until the strike is ended in order to be allowed to enter the country. DuÅ¡ek added that the Prague subway will be paralyzed in the same way.
Prague's key arteries are going to be blocked by protesters, in addition labor unions consider a massive march through the capital. There may be blockades on other important highways in the Czech Republic as well.
Miners and Czech Post logistics employees will join the strike too, air traffic workers have not announced their participation yet.
Prague's crisis committee is meeting today to prepare crisis scenarios for Monday. The committee has said that people shouldn't plan to go to Prague on Monday unless they work in the capital, and parents should consider not sending their children to school on that day.
A police helicopter will monitor the situation in the capital.
PM NeÄas: "Hostage-taking"
The management of the Prague Public Transit company will meet with labor unionists today.
PM Petr NeÄas said that he will not deny anybody their right to strike, but that according to him it is no acceptable that a protest would affect the life in the country to such degree. "The government will not succumb to the pressure, but it is prepared to continue negotiating with labor unions," NeÄas said, adding that labor unionists cannot take citizens hostage.
According to Jaroslav Zavadil, another labor union boss, the strike can evolve into a long-term protest. "We call for the government to use its common sense. Otherwise it is possible that the strike will get a different character," Zavadil threatened.
Czech labor unions want the government to withdraw the health care reform and adopt a different approach to the pension reform.
Transport strike will be supported by miners from Ostrava and Northern Bohemia who plan to block main traffic arteries in Prague. A leader of mining labor union, Jan Sábel, said that there will be around one hundred of them, refusing to give details about the protest.
Tthe strike was to take place on Monday June 13. After the Prague municipal court ruled it illegal, arguing that the organizers had failed to announce the protest three working days in advance it was moved to Thursday June 16 .
The strike will be probably the largest protest against the center-right government established approximately one year ago and the austerity reforms it plans. However, rather than by popular protests, the coalition is currently threatened above all by its own internal rupture, and it is increasingly uncertain whether it will be able to complete its full term.
Public transport halted, transit arteries blocked
Public transport in several other important cities in addition to the capital - Brno, Plzeň, Opava, Olomouc - is expected to come to a halt as well. In addition, unionists in some other cities, such as Ostrava, are still negotiating their possible participation in the strike.
The strike will start at 3 AM, and because no time limit is set, it is not sure when it will end. There are rumors going that it should end at 4 PM, but this has been neither confirmed nor denied by trade unions. "The day has 24 hours," said a member of one of the labor unions.
Both passenger and freight trains will stop at 3 AM and won't resume their operation until 4 PM, assured JaromÃr DuÅ¡ek, a labor union leader. This will include international high-speed trains which will have to wait at the Czech borders until the strike is ended in order to be allowed to enter the country. DuÅ¡ek added that the Prague subway will be paralyzed in the same way.
Prague's key arteries are going to be blocked by protesters, in addition labor unions consider a massive march through the capital. There may be blockades on other important highways in the Czech Republic as well.
Miners and Czech Post logistics employees will join the strike too, air traffic workers have not announced their participation yet.
Prague's crisis committee is meeting today to prepare crisis scenarios for Monday. The committee has said that people shouldn't plan to go to Prague on Monday unless they work in the capital, and parents should consider not sending their children to school on that day.
A police helicopter will monitor the situation in the capital.
PM NeÄas: "Hostage-taking"
The management of the Prague Public Transit company will meet with labor unionists today.
PM Petr NeÄas said that he will not deny anybody their right to strike, but that according to him it is no acceptable that a protest would affect the life in the country to such degree. "The government will not succumb to the pressure, but it is prepared to continue negotiating with labor unions," NeÄas said, adding that labor unionists cannot take citizens hostage.
According to Jaroslav Zavadil, another labor union boss, the strike can evolve into a long-term protest. "We call for the government to use its common sense. Otherwise it is possible that the strike will get a different character," Zavadil threatened.
Czech labor unions want the government to withdraw the health care reform and adopt a different approach to the pension reform.
Transport strike will be supported by miners from Ostrava and Northern Bohemia who plan to block main traffic arteries in Prague. A leader of mining labor union, Jan Sábel, said that there will be around one hundred of them, refusing to give details about the protest.
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass