The Civil Unification Forum - Civil Unification Public Foundation (CÖF-CÖKA) is expanding its civic-oriented interest protection activities to the players in the food retail and wholesale trade, said László Csizmadia, chairman of the CÖKA board of trustees, at a press conference on Tuesday in Budapest.
He said that after preliminary negotiations CÖF-CÖKA concluded a contract with the Egyenlő.hu trade union, which is part of the National Association of Workers' Councils. The aim of the cooperation is to "bring the interests of workers and their families working in the food retail and wholesale trade to a wider social base".
"In recent years, the inflationary increase in food prices has negatively affected people's living conditions, while workers' wages have not kept up with the unjustified price increase in many cases," he explained, adding:
their initiative, which started as a pilot program, represents a "new solution" in the field of interest protection.
He emphasized: in the past period, the profitable operation of companies did not reflect the appreciation of employees, real wages decreased. In many cases, the trade unions representing the employees "followed the traditions of Kádár" and operated with questionable efficiency, he added.
László Csizmadia stated:
The first step of the joint activity of CÖF-CÖKA and Egyenlő.hu will be the establishment of the "Quality Committee",
which, through its proposals, will work on "preserving workplace peace and a family environment". According to his words, it will be recommended, among other things, that the special tax levied on multinational companies be introduced by the government "in line with the improvement of the economic situation", and that the companies undertake the simultaneous, proportionate wage increases resulting from the tax reduction.
I would also initiate the introduction of the so-called profit ticket, with which - in case of increasing profits - companies could recognize their employees as a kind of social benefit.
The cooperating organizations would establish in a government decree the possibility for multinational companies working in food retail to provide their own employees with the opportunity to buy locally at a purchase price once a month, in a controlled manner, up to a certain value limit.
The chairman of the board of trustees emphasized that workplace peace and support for employees' families is in the interest of society as a whole, and therefore the owners, employers, employees and "the caring state" of the affected companies are invited to think together.
Photo: civilek.info
Csaba Bubenkokó, the president of the Egyenlő.hu trade union, called full employment the greatest achievement of recent years in Hungary, which he says must be maintained, because the workplace "means security and livelihood" for people.
He also mentioned that the slogan of their cooperation is "rowing in the same boat", which indicates that the interests of employees, employers and the state are common.
"We want peace, security, a predictable future for families, one of the conditions of which is fair work and fair pay"
Csaba Bubenko underlined.
He also spoke about the fact that "the economic strength of our nation must be increased, therefore it is important to present Hungarian products on a wide scale on the Hungarian commercial and international markets".
He recorded: the Hungarian food industry ensures independence, reduces vulnerability and provides jobs for the Hungarian people.
Constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici Jr., the spokesperson of the CÖF-CÖKA, highlighted: a modern, nationally based trade union law, and the goal behind it is to build a modern, national trade union system. He said,
the existing trade union law, which entered into force in 1991, "is not suitable to serve as the basis of modern trade unionism".
Not only because the legislation was created more than three decades ago, but also because its primary goal was to create norms for the distribution of trade union assets after the change in the system, he explained.
"We see that there is still a lack of system change in the case of trade unions, which in fact has not been achieved, and this can partly be traced back to the lack of uniform regulations," he said.
At the press conference, László Csizmadia and Csaba Bubenko signed the contract on the cooperation of the organizations.
MTI
Cover photo: Csaba Bubenkó, president of the Egyenlő.hu trade union (b) and László Csizmadia, chairman of the board of trustees of the Civil Solidarity Forum – Civil Solidarity Public Foundation (CÖF-CÖKA) (j) shake hands after signing the contract on the cooperation of the organizations CÖF-CÖKA at his press conference in Budapest on September 26, 2023. CÖF-CÖKA is expanding its citizen-focused interest protection activities to the players in the food retail and wholesale trade. MTI/Lajos Soós
