Hungarian civil servants say they cannot make ends meet

The union representing civil servants are demanding an extra month’s pay and further wage increases.

The government should award a salary increase that partially compensates for inflation in the form of an extra month’s pay, as well as a pay rise of 25 percent from Jan. 1, Erzsébet Boros, the head of the civil servants union (MKKSZ) told a press conference held late on Monday. Also, the union wants a minimum wage for graduates to be introduced and a change to the strike law, she said.

“Our livelihoods and our rights are under threat,”

Boros said, adding that a third of civil servants had “already thrown in the towel”. According to Central Statistical Office (KSH) data, wages in the public sector dropped by 10 percent in real terms in 2022, she said. She called on MKKSZ members to join in solidarity action with teachers today, which the teacher unions have coined “Solidarity Day”.

In respect of local council civil servants, a pay rise would not be enough, she said, calling for “a whole new way of thinking” to be adopted when it came to their in-kind benefits and state support for the running of local councils. She also called for the government’s “solidarity tax” which diverts some local tax takings to the central coffers to be reduced significantly.

Head of the teacher union PDSZ’s national board Anna Komjathy said teachers’ demands had not changed over the past year, including an immediate 45 percent salary increase and 22 hour cap on classroom work, as well as paid overtime.