NID: HUNGARY: WORKERS GRANTED RIGHT TO STRIKE

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826734
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: March 24, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826734
11UNGARY: %Vorkers Grunted Right To Strike
After extensive public debate. Hungary's National Assembly
yesterday passed legislation giving workers the right to strike, a law
more liberal than the regime wanted. The new law allows either
unions or workers acting without union sanction to strike. It also
legalizes sympathy strikes, protects strikers from disciplinary action,
� and exempts strike funds from taxation or public disclosure. Both the
official union and independent political groups, including alternative
unions, opposed the regime's initial, more restrictive draft.
Comment: The legislation exemplifies the regime's weakness in the
face of growing demands for liberalization. It no longer can count on
the support of even official organizations that, because of competing
groups like the alternative unions, arc under pressure to represent
their constituents' interests better. The regime will continue to view
strikes as challenges to its authority and will intercede to deter them,
but the new law is bound to encourage workers to act more forcefully.
For the regime, there is an added risk that more strikes might become
violent or frighten away the foreign investors Budapest wants to help
modernize its economy.
NR Record
et
TCS 2768/
24 Mardi 1989
or
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Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826734