Unions demand postponement of bill on public employee status

Five trade union federations have demanded the Speaker of Parliament postpone consideration of a bill that would terminate the status of museum, library, archival, public-culture, theatre and orchestral staff as public employees from Nov. 1.

The ESZT trade union federation and the SZEF, LIGA, MASZSZ and MOSZ federations were “appalled” by the bill the government planned to table, the ESZT federation said in a statement on Tuesday.

The statement decried the lack of consultations with the unions or public consultation concerning the planned measure which would change the employment status of almost 20,000 people.

For the duration of the state of emergency due to the coronavirus epidemic, the bill’s passage should be suspended and broad public consultations held, the statement said.

The opposition Socialists demand suspending the bill for the duration of the state of emergency, the party said on Tuesday.

The bill would pose uncertainty to 20,000 people working in the cultural sector by terminating their public employee status, it said.

Back on Sunday the LMP party called on the government to withdraw the bill. Employees in the cultural sector are underpaid, the last time they received a pay rise was in 2002, a lawmaker of the party said in a Facebook video message. More than 70 percent of them receive an equivalent of the minimum wage, Péter Ungár said.

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Source: MTI