Socially Destructive Amendments to the Hungarian Labour Code Need to be Opposed

Tibor Meszmann — 2017-05-23T06:47:49Z

While demonstrations in Budapest and international reactions expressed outrage over the Hungarian Government's attempt to shut down Central European University (CEU), on 11 April 2017, the Economic Committee of the Hungarian Parliament was also proposing legislative amendments to the Labor Code. The amendments – to the Labor Code, which is already often referred to as the “slave-labor law” (rabszolgatörvény) – would enable an even more flexible, employer friendly use of working time, especially in the production segment of manufacturing. Instead of the currently, already very flexible reference period of 12 months, the new legislation proposes a 36 months long reference period. The reference period means that the employer can unilaterally decide about the daily, weekly, monthly, and even annual working time schedule of an employee – i.e. if (s)he is to work a daily 8 or 12 hours, 3 or 6 days per week, etc. Moreover, non-standard, continuous work schedules, or shift-work is common in metal manufacturing.

- IV508 - May 2017 / Hungary, Trade unions/workplace organizing

International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

Socially Destructive Amendments to the Hungarian Labour Code Need to be Opposed