(17 January) EPSU has sent a solidarity message to the HVDSZ 2000 union in Hungary, four of whose members, including its president András Király, have been summarily sacked by the FKFzrt waste company in Budapest. The four were sacked for presenting the company with a demand for better pay and conditions.

EPSU, along with the International and European Trade Union Confederations, has also sent a strongly worded protest message to the chief executive of the company. The letter calls on him to reinstate the sacked workers and reminds him that his behaviour is in breach of the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Council of Europe’s Social Charter and the core International Labour Organisation’s Conventions 87 and 98.

EPSU general secretary Jan Willem Goudriaan said: “These workers were carrying out their trade union duties and trying to negotiate better pay and conditions for their members. It is completely unacceptable that the company behaves in this way and our affiliate in Hungary can count on our full support in this case.”