Confederation of Industry refuses a general 5 percent pay raise

The Confederation of Industry of the Czech Republic is strongly against the five percent salary raise proposed by the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions (ČMKOS) for 2015. The proposal has been published without the previous consultation with the employers who is one of the three social dialogue partners.

„We consider this stance a political gesture abusing some optimistic macroeconomic data,“ the Confederation’s president Jaroslav Hanák said.

According to the Confederation’s July survey organized among 1600 member companies, Czech firms are forecasting a maximum one or two percent pay raise in the next year.

„The Trade Unions strongly exaggerated their requirements,“ Hanák stressed. „It doesn’t correspond to the economic possibilities of the most companies.“

According to another Confederation’s survey, a better economic situation has been confirmed in year-over-year comparison only in two fifth of Czech companies, in other two fifth of the member societies, the situation is the same as in 2013, in more than one fifth it has worsened.

For the next year, we can await a continuous recovery of the Czech economy, but most of the companies won’t be able to proceed to a dramatic enhance of the wages. There is also a great difference between the individual industry branches‘s economic condition as well as between the individual companies condition within an industry branch.

„As to the wage increase, the companies will decide primarily on the basis of their economic results and business plans,“ Hanák concluded. „A five percent pay raise won’t contribute to the new jobs creation.“