Hungary

On 25 November 2024, Hungary's government, employers, and trade unions signed an agreement on minimum wages for the years 2025–2027. This deal establishes significant increases for both the minimum wage and the guaranteed minimum wage over the next three years. The minimum wage will rise by 9% in 2025, followed by increases of 13% in 2026 and 14% in 2027, bringing it to HUF 290,800 next year. The guaranteed minimum wage will also increase by 7% in 2025. Projections suggest that the cumulative 40% increase in the minimum wage by 2027 will significantly enhance purchasing power while maintaining

The SZEF public service trade union confederation reports that 12 trade unions have taken a case to the Constitutional Court in an attempt to defend their right to the practice of check-ff where union subscriptions are deducted by the employer from members’ salaries and then paid to the union. The prohibition has caused significant challenges to the financial stability and functioning of the unions. The unions argue that the ban violates the Fundamental Law, particularly regarding the constitutional protection of unions as institutions and represents a regression from the established level of

EPSU and the ETUC have written to prime minister Viktor Orbán to protest about draft legislation that undermines the right of public sector trade unions to collect union membership dues by check-off. The draft law is about reducing the administrative burdens of the state but will clearly pose major problems for trade unions and increase their own administration as they take on the task to collect fees. The public sector confederation SZEF along with the four other national confederations are supported by the ETUC and EPSU in calling for the proposals to be withdrawn and for negotiations to

The Hungarian government has issued two decrees removing the right to strike from air traffic control staff. An appeal court judgement of 20 July clearly confirmed the union’s legal right to strike. However, six days later the two decrees were published which not only dismiss the decision of the Hungarian Appeal Court but also violate Article 28 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) has condemned the Hungarian government and strongly maintains that collective representation and collective bargaining are basic labour rights

The five national trade union confederations sent a solidarity message to the MESZK chamber of healthcare professionals in support of its protest march in Budapest on 31 July. The demonstrators called for pay increases for nurses in line with those already awarded to doctors and argued this was crucial to help stem the migration of nurses to western Europe. Earlier this year the five confederations also came together to file a complaint with the International Labour Organisation over the government’s imposition of new legislation which removes the rights to negotiate and take strike action