Wednesday rail strikes bring Hungary to a standstill

Many thousands of workers and employees went out on strike in what Magyar Hírlap calls Hungary's biggest trade union-supported strike of recent years. The industrial action was to protest against government plans for a multi-player health insurance scheme, changes to pension calculation regulations, and railway line closures. Over 130 trade unions and NGOs supported the strike, Magyar Hírlap adds.

Trains came to a virtual standstill throughout Hungary between 6 a.m. and noon on Wednesday. Népszabadság writes that 20% of rail workers came out on strike at the behest of the Union of Railway Workers and the Free Union of Railway Workers.

The unions said 10,000 rail workers participated in the action, which affected some 1,300 passenger trains. Workers with Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurt Railways joined the strike for two hours, affecting eight trains. The Hungarian State Railways said train traffic will return to normal today.

Workers of two Volán long-distance coach companies in Vas county and the Kőrös Volán also joined the strike. A strike was called at Ferihegy airport between 2 and 4 a.m. but this did not affect air traffic.

Staff at three power plants, namely Fűzfő, Budapest Erőmű and the Dél Magyarországi Áramszolgáltató, also went on strike. Around one-third of the 1,660 employees at Cholnoky Ferenc Hospital in Veszprém declared "active solidarity" with the strikers for two hours.

At least 2,500 teachers struck in 150 schools in Budapest, Debrecen, Nagymaros, Noszvaj, Nagymaros, and Hajdúhadház, according to the Democratic Union of Teachers. Single-lane road blockades were staged in Borsod, Hajdú and Győr counties.

Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány told reporters while in Tallinn on Wednesday that "striking is an important civilian right and it must be understood and supported," but added that "a difference must be made between political intentions to influence strike initiatives and genuine social demands."

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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