In Hungary several trade unions joined a nationwide strike appeal issued by umbrella trade union organization Liga on Wednesday, including teachers' union PDSZ and electricity distributors Elmu and Demasz, the state news agency reported.
More than half a dozen groups also organized roadblock demonstrations throughout the country, joining the initiative to protest the government's health-care and pension reforms and its plan to close down 38 spur railway lines.
Teachers' unions said 2,500 teachers at 150 schools struck in some form at pre-schools, elementary and secondary schools alike with each work stoppage lasting between two and six hours.
Meanwhile, drivers parked their cars in traffic lanes in various parts of the country to force cars to detour around them, or used other methods of partially obstructing traffic.
Most of the road closures ended by 3:00 p.m. local time, national police headquarters reported.
Employees of Budapest electricity distributor Elmu held a strike between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m., when capacity dropped by 5MW at each of its three power plants, but neither clients nor the company was affected, HR director Ivan Maticsek told reporters. Some 40 percent of employees at south Hungary's power distributor Demasz struck between 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. local time.
Meanwhile government spokesperson Bernadett Budai said that far fewer than the 10,000 people organizers were counting on had joined the work stoppage. The two groups with highest participation were the railway workers and teachers, she said, who together made up 6,300 persons. The strikes did not really obstruct life, she added.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article