Hungarian public employees' union calls for pay hikes

The Hungarian Union of Public Officials, Employees and Public Workers used Local Government Day on Friday as an opportunity to demand pay hikes for its members.

Addressing a news conference and demonstration in Budapest, union chief Erzsebet Boros acknowledged that the mayors of many small towns had been granted salary increases as had district office staff, but that had actually increased the exodus of local government workers.

This, she said, was the outcome of unequally raising wages for people doing the same jobs in different offices.

She reminded her audience that local government workers initiated a brief strike two weeks ago because they had not seen their pay rise in eight years. This, said Boros, left most of them making less than the official minimum subsistence level.

Participation in local government strikes, she said, had been high, but they had still not been effective, as far as the government was concerned.

She demanded decent wages for all local government workers including those working in financially-disadvantaged communities. The European Charter of Local Self-Government specifically requires the central government to protect local governments in financially weaker communities and to equalize their resources, she pointed out.

Issues important to the community can be at risk if local governments become inoperable, Boros warned. Endit