Hungarian public sector workers to quit their jobs?
Many civil servants and public sector workers are unsatisfied with their working conditions and their salaries. To an extent, firefighters, for instance, are thinking about quitting their jobs and changing professions.
The issue of civil servants and their dissatisfaction with their working conditions and salaries have been an ongoing problem and the basis of demonstrations for years in Hungary. In December, mérce.hu reported the results of a research conducted by Závecz Research about civil servants and their profession. Results showed that
around a third of these workers had serious financial difficulties or were unable to reach adequate standards of living from their wage.
Moreover, 75% of healthcare workers were afraid that their work status would change. They were mostly dissatisfied with the fact that someone with the same educational background and profession earns better outside of the public sector.
The position of a civil servant offers some insurance when it comes to the job and the salary, which is the case all around the world. Working in the public sector means that we have a steady job with a steady income from where we cannot be easily fired. With the change of the work status, all this changes as well. Healthcare workers were right to be worried, as already last year, there was news about the government changing the conditions of their contract and thus their work status.
As Daily News Hungary reported at the beginning of this year, this change did happen, indeed. As the government could not reach a compromise with hospitals and doctors, the new system entered into effect on the 1st of March.
Here are the details of why the healthcare system of Hungary almost collapsed in the spring
Not just doctors and nurses but paramedics, too, feared a significant decrease in their salary prior to the decision, when the first news about it was made public. A paramedic told atv.hu that
they had the impression that the government wanted to take back the money it had given them as a wage raise last year so that it could increase the salaries of doctors this spring.
Not long ago, Daily News Hungary also reported the story of a Hungarian nurse who decided not to sign her new contract and left the country instead. Even though she is far away from her family, she now has an easier and less stressful life with a much higher income.
It seems like firefighters will be the next to leave their profession and their contracts to have a better life with a wage they deserve.
As of now, over 4 thousand out of the 12 thousand disaster responders in Hungary have permission for a second job. Almost all of these 4 thousand people are firefighters who try to complement their salary of 170 thousand forints (485 euros). Furthermore, the number of people with a second job can be even higher, as not all of them ask for official permission in the case they do a temporary job for a couple of days or weeks, Zsolt Antalfi from a trade union of firefighters told telex.hu.
He added that many of them were preparing for a civil life as they cannot take the situation any longer. Already at the age of 40, many of them suffer from cardiac arrest or have a hernia; meanwhile, they are continuously obliged to take physically demanding tests. All this for a very low salary without housing allowance or pension for those who need to leave their profession before reaching the official age of retirement.
As he says, the system is a waste of money: their training costs a certain amount, while they leave their profession very soon due to the conditions and the salaries.
Source: telex.hu, atv.hu, merce.hu