First collective agreement for Czech civil servants 


The government and four unions have reached the first ever service-wide collective agreement for central government employees in the Czech Republic. The agreement signed on 22 December covers 69,000 employees including those working in local social security and employment offices, as well as those working in government ministries. 


Before this agreement terms and conditions of central government employees were fixed by government decree. However, a new Civil Service Act, which came into effect a year ago on 1 January 2015 and whose primary purpose is to depoliticise the civil service, also provides for the negotiation of a service-wide collective agreement for civil servants.


The agreement confirms a number of existing practices, such as the right to five additional days’ leave and long-service benefits, as well as providing for the two sides to have annual discussions on pay increases. It runs from 1 January to 31 December 2016.