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Hungarian rail strike enters its second week

Other News Materials 22 December 2008 14:22 (UTC +04:00)

Rail passengers faced another day of confusion and frustration in Hungary on Monday as a nationwide strike by railworkers entered an eighth day, reported dpa.

A spokesman for Hungary's state-owned rail company MAV announced that one of Budapest's three main railway stations was at a complete standstill, while only a few trains were running at the others. The situation was similar across the country.

Talks between union representatives and management over the past few days have repeatedly failed to break the deadlock. The situation worsened when the Railway Workers' Free Trade Union warned that its members might stay out on strike over Christmas.

Union leader Istvan Gasko had pledged on Wednesday that a full service would be provided from December 24 to 26. After talks with management broke down on Sunday, he said a decision on whether to lift the strike temporarily would be made early this week.

The union is demanding a one-off payment of 250,000 forints (1,325 dollars) to all 40,000 MAV employees from the proceeds of the privatization of MAV Cargo, the recently spun off freight wing of the loss-making rail firm. It also wants a backdated, 10 per cent pay rise for subcontracted workers.

Both MAV and the Hungarian government have dismissed the union's demands out of hand. Finance Minister Janos Veres said the demand for a windfall payment was "absurd," while Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany last week accused the rail union of blackmail and acting out of self interest. dpa rh bve

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