Heritage protectors in eastern Bohemia will join the trade union strike

Pardubice - A part of the employees of the National Heritage Institute (NPÚ) in Pardubice and Josefov in the Náchod region decided to join the strike alert declared by the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions on Friday, April 18, on International Day for Monuments and Sites. They want to draw attention to the long-term unsatisfactory wage situation for employees and the lack of funding for the operation and maintenance of heritage sites. The public will learn about the symbolic strike during visits to heritage sites managed by the NPÚ, said Bohuslava Obolecká, chairwoman of the trade union organizations at both workplaces, to ČTK.
    "We contacted the caretakers of individual sites to inform people that a strike alert has been declared and mainly under what conditions they work. Every year we perceive it as getting worse and worse regarding the influx of operational funds so that we can manage the heritage sites properly," Obolecká said. She warned that a lack of funds would mean the departure of qualified workers and their replacement by less qualified and experienced individuals.
    About one-third of the employees at NPÚ locations in Eastern Bohemia belong to the trade union organization. The statement released by the unionists indicates that the wage conditions for heritage workers have deteriorated year after year, with the average gross monthly salary at both sites reaching 14,852 crowns, while more than 60 percent of employees have a university or secondary school education. "Some are already leaving for better-paying jobs for existential reasons," the unionists declare, stating that they do not want to limit visitors to heritage sites, but want to highlight one of the many serious consequences of the current government reform, the threat of reducing the standard level of public services provided by NPÚ and similar state-funded organizations.
    Employees of the Pardubice Heritage Institute recently also pointed out that they received significantly less money for investments in heritage sites this year than before, and the Pardubice region ranks worst in this regard among other regions.
    ČTK was unable to obtain a statement from NPÚ's General Director Pavel Jerie or the spokesperson for heritage workers Zdeněk Musil today.