Budapest braces for transport strike on Tuesday

Unions of Budapest Transport Company BKV have threatened to go ahead with a planned strike as talks between their representatives and the company management failed on Monday, head of the strike committee Gyorgy Foldenyi told the press.

The unions have earlier announced to start an open-ended strike as of Tuesday if their demands are not met.

Unions demand a renewal of collective work agreements which expired at the end of last year, and are angry over planned cuts in benefits like health and pension contributions, and the scrapping of an end-year bonus, Foldenyi said.

Communications director of Budapest Municipal Council Krisztian Nyary said the city's leadership urges BKV workers to refrain from the work stoppage. He added that though benefits would be cut due to changes in tax legislation, BKV workers' net pay will rise by an average of 13 percent this year, which is above the national average.

Nyary said that the central government had agreed to inject 23 billion forints (EUR 85m) and Budapest Council 5 billion forints into BKV in 2010, but these funds must be used to avoid bankruptcy and retain jobs and cannot be used for wage rises.

The two sides did not come closer at talks on Monday morning, but will resume negotiations in the afternoon. The management said it is not in a financial position to meet demands. The cash-strapped BKV has accumulated a gap of 90 billion forints (EUR 334m) since 2003, BKV communications director Erzsebet Szekely Pasztor said.

The unions and management also failed to reach agreement over the minimum level of service they would provide in case of a strike.

The head of the railway workers' union VDSZSZ Istvan Gasko said on Monday that he would hold a news conference later in the day. Recently the union said it was ready to hold a sympathy strike.

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