Nationwide strike starts in Hungary

Thousands of Hungarian workers have started a nationwide, general strike of an unspecified length to protest against the government's plans to reform the health care and pension systems. The strikes, called for by the trade unions' umbrella organization LIGA and the Worker's Councils, are expected to cause delays in train services on Monday and later this week. The two organizations are demanding that the government withdraw a bill - to be voted on today - that will allow for the partial privatization of the country's health insurance system, while protesting against a new pension calculation rule that they say will result in a cut of 8%-10% to the pensions of those who retire next year.

A nationwide railway strike called for by the Free Trade Union of Railway Workers (VDSZSZ) started at 6 a.m. Monday. State railway company MÁV reported that only 40% to 45% of trains are running, with spokesman Tibor Sigulinszky suggesting that passengers postpone their travel until a later date. A representative of the VDSZSZ, László Lőrincz, told inforadio.hu that several striking workers at the Keleti, Budapest's largest railway station, are being replaced by other workers. Lőrincz thinks this does not make the striking workers weaker.

In addition to railway workers, health care personnel, teachers, airport and electronics workers, some bus drivers and others are participating in the Monday strike. According to hirextra.hu, the two-hour strike of airport workers Monday morning between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. did not cause any delays in air travel. Budapest Airport Spokesman Domokos Szollár said that only a "handful" of workers were participating in the strike. Meanwhile, the staff of the Kazincbarcika Town Hospital (Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County) will go on a two-hour stike at noon, Népszava reports. Only emergency cases will be attended to until 2 p.m.

LIGA Assistant Chairman Gábor Kerpen, who is also the chairman of the Democratic Trade Union of Teachers, said that teachers of several hundred institutions are participating in the strike, which means at least 10,000 teachers.

On Friday, bus drivers working for Budapest Transport Company BKV decided not to participate in today's action, after their largest union, the Trade Union Federation of Urban Public Transport Staff, reached an agreement with the management to postpone the laying off of 350 workers until the end of January. The Public Road Transport Union (KKSZ), which covers workers for the Volán long distance bus companies, has also reached an agreement with the government on amending the Pensions Act, and is not planning any strikes.

Worker's Councils Chairman Imre Palkovics said that such agreements are merely putting off dealing with the problems, and that the government represents the "interest of investor lobbies" rather than those of the public.

The leader of LIGA, István Gaskó, said that, according to public opinion polls, 70% of the population thinks the striking organizations' demands are important, while 63% agree that striking is an acceptable way of stressing these demands.

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