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Hungary protesters march against labour reform
BUDAPEST, Jan 6, 2019 (AFP) – Around 6,000 people on Saturday demonstrated
against nationalist-conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orban in the latest of
a wave of Hungarian protests targeting a labour reform branded a “slave law”
by the opposition.
Turnout was well below expectations of the march’s opposition party and
union organisers’. They had hoped to mobilise tens of thousands to revive the
protests after the festive season.
The reform, adopted by parliament on December 12, has increased the amount
of overtime that employers can demand from 250 to 400 hours per year and
allows payment to be delayed by up to three years.
The government says the law is needed to tackle Hungary’s labour shortage
and will enable those who wish to work more hours to earn more.
Hungarian President Janos Ader signed the reform into law just before
Christmas, despite more than 10 days of sometimes violent clashes between
demonstrators and police in the capital and other cities.
In the biggest demonstration of the current series, some 15,000 people
gathered on 16 December in central Budapest.
The opposition is also calling for another recent reform to be scrapped
that could threaten the independence of judges. And it is demanding greater
freedom for public media, which the opposition accuses of acting as a
government mouthpiece.
The protests have succeeded in uniting all shades of the normally fractious
opposition, with unions also throwing their weight behind the movement and
threatening to organise a general strike unless the law is scrapped.
Since he was re-elected for a third term last April, Orban, an admirer of
Russian President Vladimir Putin, has according to his critics pursued reform
policies aimed at creating an “illiberal democracy”.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0941 hrs