Opposition to query state-owned firms on implementation of labour code amendment

Parliament’s opposition parties on Wednesday said they will ask state-owned companies whether they plan on implementing the labour code’s new rules on overtime.

Ildikó Borbély Bangó, the Socialist Party’s deputy group leader, told a press conference she held jointly with other opposition politicians that the opposition will send out letters to state-owned company executives asking them if they will “enforce the slave law”.

She noted that there are currently 200 companies in Hungary funded from taxpayer money.

Bangó said the opposition parties will visit the premises of a state-owned company each week to ask their management about the implementation of the new overtime rules.

The Liberal Party’s Anett Bősz, who sits in parliament as an independent, called on the companies in question to honour the prime minister’s promise that under the new rules, employees will still receive their overtime pay at the end of the month.

Zsolt Gréczy of the Democratic Coalition said the polls showed that

the new rules were unpopular, adding that “a slew of multinational companies” were also refusing to implement them.

LMP’s Antal Csárdi said the implementation of the new rules could lead to accidents at transportation companies. This was why, he said, it was important to know whether Budapest transport authority BKK, railway company MÁV and bus company Volán plan on enforcing them.

Bence Tordai of Párbeszéd said the parties would encourage the workers of state-owned companies to join a planned national strike on Saturday. He said the opposition hopes the strike comes to fruition and that it will be accompanied by demonstrations in all major cities.

Tamás Pintér of conservative Jobbik said

the “slave law” transcended party lines and that the opposition was united in calling for its repeal.

The amendments to the labour code, approved by parliament in December, raised the annual threshold for overtime from 250 to 400 hours.

Source: MTI