Labor unions stage day of action in protest at spending cuts and taxes

teleSUR English

Labor unions staged a day of protests and strikes across the Czech Republic on Monday to voice their opposition to the government's package of cuts and austerity measures meant to keep the ballooning deficit under control. teleSUR

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00:00 Labour unions staged a day of protests and strikers across the Czech Republic on Monday

00:05 to voice their opposition to the government's package of cuts and austerity measures meant

00:10 to keep the ballooning deficit under control.

00:13 Labour unions also demand more money for education and health sectors and protest for proposed

00:18 changes for the pension system.

00:21 Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said his government was unwilling to give in because the measures

00:26 are "absolutely necessary".

00:28 Mohamed Defec, leader of one of the main labour unions, told the crowd that they have agreed

00:33 that if there are no negotiations, there will be crowded streets, squares, blockades and

00:37 strikes.

00:38 "It's just a protest.

00:44 I think the unions believe that parliament will solve the biggest problems of the consolidation

00:48 package.

00:51 So we were waiting for a democratic way to fix it.

00:55 But unfortunately, members of parliament and senators choose a political solution instead

01:01 of a common sense solution."

01:05 The protests will certainly not affect the consolidation package, which has already been

01:09 approved by both lower house and the upper house and signed by the president, but the

01:14 current government should perhaps know that people don't like what's happening at the

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