Despite days of protests, Hungary’s President Janos Ader has signed the new Labor Code. He was convinced that the new provisions would not violate the rights of workers, said Vein in a statement.
The law, which was approved in parliament a week ago on Wednesday, had triggered the most violent series of street protests in years.
The new law allows employers to charge their employees up to 400 overtime hours instead of the current 250 per year, and postpone salary payments up to three years. According to the unions, this is equivalent to the covert introduction of a six-day week.
The passing of the text last week in Parliament sparked the largest wave of protests since the beginning of the tenure of right-wing conservative Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in 2010: thousands demonstrated for days in Budapest and other major cities against Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s right-wing national government. Dozens of people were arrested and more than a dozen policemen were injured. Another big rally in Budapest is planned for Friday.
Decision „scandalous“
The signing of the law by Vein came as no surprise. The President comes from the governing party Fidesz and is considered a largely loyal supporter of the Orban government. It is not stricter than overtime regulations in comparable EU states, said Ader. He now hopes for quiet and peaceful holidays.
The opposition reacted angrily. The extreme right-wing Jobbik party called Ader’s decision „scandalous“. The extra-parliamentary party Momentum, which helped shape the protests, said in a first reaction, „We think the vicious speed of the vein is a scandal, we get smoke grenades, and tomorrow we visit the Sandor-Palais (President’s residence) . “
Protests against the labor code have been joined by a broad coalition of opposition parties. On Monday, thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the state television station MTVA in Budapest. Opposition MPs went into the building and tried to broadcast a statement with demands from the protest movement.
