Lufthansa's staff strike affects Prague Airport passengers

The ground staff of German airline Lufthansa is on strike. Flights were already canceled on Tuesday. According to the Verdi trade union, the management's offer to raise wages is insufficient. Passengers from the Czech Republic also have to reckon with canceled flights. There are strikes in Frankfurt, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Berlin, Bremen, Hanover, Stuttgart, and Cologne. 

More than 1,000 Lufthansa flights were canceled on Wednesday, affecting 134,000 passengers. According to a statement from Prague Airport on Tuesday, three connections between Prague and Munich were canceled for today, as well as four departures from Prague to Frankfurt and three arrivals from Frankfurt to Prague.

Last month, the union asked for a 9.5 percent wage increase, or at least EUR 350 (CZK 8,600), for around 20,000 Lufthansa workers. They attributed this to inflation and their overwork due to a lack of staff at airports. Lufthansa has offered a raise of EUR 150 a month for the rest of this year and another EUR 100 from the beginning of 2023, plus a 2 percent pay rise from mid-2023, depending on the company's financial results. The union rejected the offer on the grounds that it was not enough to offset inflation, which reached 8.2 percent in Germany in June.

The daily number of newly infected with Covid-19 is above 3,000; on Tuesday, laboratories detected 3,437 newly infected. This is about 300 fewer compared to Monday, but in a week-on-week comparison, it is about 200 more. In addition, the Ministry of Health registered 1,178 suspected cases of repeated infection in the past few days. The number of people hospitalized with Covid-19 continues to grow, on Tuesday there were 1,086 infected people in hospitals, of which 41 were in a serious condition, according to the data on the website of the Ministry of Health.

The average monthly old-age pension in the Czech Republic may rise by CZK 850 within a regular indexation as of January. With a bonus for raising children, it would amount to CZK 19,500, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Marian Jurečka said. It will become clear in September how much of the added amount will go to the solidarity part and to the merit part of pensions.

Today, the Senate will discuss a cost-saving energy tariff for households and a reduction in payments to the health care sector for state-insured persons. It should approve both government amendments according to the recommendations of its committees.

The energy-saving tariff responds to rising energy prices and is intended to help households reduce bills for electricity, gas, and heat. By reducing public health insurance payments for pensioners, children, students, or the unemployed for five months this year, the government wants to save roughly CZK 14 billion in the state budget.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and her Czech counterpart Jan Lipavský laid wreaths at the grave of men from the village of Lidice village, obliterated by the Nazis 80 years ago, and the statue of the murdered Lidice children today. They jointly visited the memorial and met the last survivors of the tragedy. Lipavský said afterward that Baerbock's visit to Lidice proved balance in the current relations between the Czech Republic and Germany. Baerbock said the EU was established to prevent such crimes from repeating. The two diplomats also signed a strategic dialogue plan for the next two years.

People who lost their accommodation or were otherwise affected by the fire in Czech Switzerland can apply for emergency assistance in the amount of CZK 69,300 per person at labor offices, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka said. People can also request a contribution to cover one-off expenses, such as legal fees paid in the event of the loss of documents or the issuance of a duplicate birth certificate.

The police began investigating the fire in Czech Switzerland as a criminal act of public endangerment due to negligence. It is not clear where and under what circumstances the fire broke out. Police have restricted access to the area and are guarding buildings where people had to evacuate. The story has made headlines across the world.

Firefighters put out two big forest fires in the Libavá military training grounds in the Olomouc Region and near Lukoveček in the Zlín region late in the morning, their representatives said. Both fires started in the late afternoon on Monday and spread fast because of the drought. The Lukoveček fire is believed to have been caused by someone being negligent with a cigarette or open fire. Damage is estimated at CZK 200,000. The cause of the Libavá fire is not yet known.

The renovation of the Rotunda of the Discovery of the Holy Cross in Prague’s Old Town has unexpectedly revealed well-preserved stone slabs from the original roofing. The stone used for the original roof was marl, which is similar to limestone. The stones will be left in place and covered with new roofing. The find sheds new light on historical building practices and the use of building materials. The renovation of the rotunda should end this fall and cost CZK 6.3 million including VAT. The 12th-century Romanesque rotunda on the corner of Konviktská and Karoliny Světlé streets is one of the oldest preserved church buildings in Prague.

EU member states agreed on a voluntary reduction of natural gas demand by 15 percent between Aug. 1, 2022, and March 31, 2023. The move is to offset possible disruptions of gas supplies from Russia. “Today’s decision has clearly shown the member states will stand tall against any Russian attempt to divide the EU by using energy supplies as a weapon,” Czech Minister of Industry and Trade Jozef Síkela said. There are several exceptions to the reductions, and EU states can choose different methods to reduce demand.

The basic pay of firefighters and police officers will rise by 10 percent in the Czech Republic as of January, Interior Minister Vít Rakušan said. Prime Minister Petr Fiala confirmed the information. The coalition government is negotiating public sector pay increases with trade unions, which want increases in line with inflation. Last week, the government and union representatives agreed on having a meeting in mid-August to discuss the issue. The inflation in June was 17.2 percent year on year.

The Czech Republic received 1,400 doses of the vaccine against monkeypox today and they are stored in the Prague-Bulovka Teaching Hospital. In total, Czechia will get 2,800 vaccine doses as a donation from the European Commission. Public health officers have registered 16 monkeypox cases in the country so far, with 15 in Prague and one in the Ustí nad Labem region. Last week, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the highest level of alert over monkeypox. The first monkeypox cases were reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1970s.