News

On 12 November 2018, the workers’ side of the VKF will consult and on 13 November the three parties will negotiate on the minimum wage in 2019, the guaranteed minimum wage and the national wage recommendation.

The National Confederation of Workers’ Councils agrees with the proposal of the central bank according to which the efficiency of retraining programs for public employees should be enhanced.

Both employers and trade unions deem it necessary to increase the number and level of flexible employment forms in as many sectors as possible.  

The legal assistance network operated by the National Confederation of Workers’ Councils, called JOGpontok and the National Union of Students in Hungary (HÖOK) signed a cooperation agreement with a view to rendering information to student employees and to resolving their labour disputes.

In 2016, employees in the private sector did not work on 14,1% of the official working days due to holiday, sick leave, excused and unexcused absence, revealed the analysis of the Central Statistical Office. On the average, employees were absent from their workplace for 39.1 days in 2016.

The firm position of the National Confederation of Workers’ Councils is that the planned changes should not result in any wage decrease of workers and employees.   

The picture is getting clearer concerning the regulation relevant for Hungarian posted workers, but according to road transport companies for instance, road transporting should not be regarded as posting, the president of ÉVOSZ (National Association of Constructing Industry Entrepreneurs) has pointed out the fact, that 2/3 of Hungarian workers active in the constructing industry are not considered as posted workers but sole entrepreneurs – as written in the latest edition of ’World Economy’.

The Congress of the National Confederation of Workers’ Councils has unanimously re-elected Imre Palkovics to be the president of the organisation during its VIIth Congress in Balatonalmádi on 25-26th May. In his speech Imre Palkovics quoted Pope John Paul II.: „Technology transforms work. But the subject of work continues to be man.” He added: „The job of the Confederation is to protect the working man.”

GENEVA (ILO News) – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos told the International Labour Conference  (ILC) that having achieved peace, Colombia now needs to anchor it in social justice, by creating more jobs, tackling poverty and reducing inequality.  “I come to you today as the President of a country that is starting to build peace and is following a difficult but also hopeful path towards development, prosperity and more justice,” said Santos, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016 for pursuing a deal to end more than 50 years of conflict with a leftist rebel group. 

“Enhancing communication strategies of workers’ organizations”; Focused seminar in the framework of special projects for workers’ organizations in the Western Balkans 2018 Budapest, 12-13 April 2018. MOSZ and TUC Nezavisnost held a common Seminar with the title of „Efficient communication strategies for Trade Unions” in the framework of EZA special project for workers’ organizations in the Western Balkans. The Seminar was organized in Budapest in the historical Gellért hotel. Given the great number of applicants we counted fifty participants from: Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Czech, Serbian, Slovakian trade unions.

The focuses of the European Centre for Workers’ Questions (EZA) 2018 education programme are the topics of “New labour relations: digitalisation and trade union strategies”, “Working and living in a digitised world”, “European pillar of social rights” and “Quality of work”. In addition, the topic of “Strategies of European institutions” is being continued, this year concentrating on “capacity building”. The special project for workers’ organisations in the Western Balkans is likewise being continued.

In an academic-practical education project in the 2016/2017 education year, the European Centre for Workers’ Questions (EZA), in conjunction with the research Institute for Advanced Studies (IHS) commissioned by the Österreichisches Zentrum für Arbeitnehmerbildung (ÖZA, Austrian Centre for Workers’ Training), contributed academic findings on digitalisation and the labour market to the seminars of five education partners from the EZA network, and enhanced this knowledge with experience from the practice of workers’ organisations.