In the Czech Republic, police and firefighters protested against low wages. Local media reported this on November 21.
Around a thousand employees of the police, fire brigade, penitentiary service, customs department and other security agencies reportedly demonstrated in front of the main office of the Czech Interior Ministry on Thursday, protesting against low salaries and lack of of personnel. conditions. Representatives from many remote regions of the country attended the event. As stated by the union leader Alesh Legki “The Ministry of the Interior does not fulfill its own promise to increase the level of salaries in the department.”
Protesters filled the entire square in front of the Ministry of the Interior building. Many carried homemade signs with slogans: “We will not allow the disintegration of the security forces,” “Our stability is your security,” “You promise, we serve.”
According to the union leader, the average salary of police officers and firefighters currently amounts to approximately 120% of the average salary of the country as a whole, which clearly does not correspond to the nature and working conditions of the representatives of these services and is the lowest since the existence of the independent Czech Republic (since 1993). The average salary in the republic as of July 1 of this year was 45.8 thousand crowns (about 1.9 thousand dollars).
During the demonstration, the first deputy prime minister and the head of the Ministry of Interior approached the participants. Vit Rakushan. He promised the audience that the government would allocate additional funds to increase the monthly salaries of security forces by 2.5 thousand crowns (about $104) in 2025, and that additional increases of 5% would follow in 2026 and 2027. According to some According to the speakers, these measures will not solve the significant lack of financing suffered by the sector.
