PM Orbán: Workers To Benefit From Labour Changes In Hungary

  • 12 Dec 2018 7:49 AM
  • Hungary Matters
PM Orbán: Workers To Benefit From Labour Changes In Hungary
Changes to the labour code now before parliament have been designed to serve the interests of employees, the prime minister told commercial television ATV.

Concerning protests by trade unions against the planned changes, Viktor Orbán said the unions “are not right because overtime work would be done on a voluntary basis” and insisted that under the amended labour code “those that so wish could work more and earn more”.

“This might not be in the interest of the unions, but definitely in the interest of workers, and the government is on their side,” he added.

Answering a question suggesting that employers could lay off workers unless they work overtime, Orbán said that Hungary has a labour shortage and “workers are protected by an economic policy which creates demand for labour, and now they can chose between many options,” he said.

Orbán insisted that the changes would benefit the employees of small and medium-sized firms, because now “they are prevented from working more by silly bureaucratic obstacles”.

Photo: PM'S Press Office Szecsődi Balázs

Related links

Unions Protest In Budapest Over Overtime Plans

Unions Press For 13-15% Minimum Wage Rise, Employers For 5% Increase In Hungary

  • How does this content make you feel?

XpatLoop Media Partner

Hungary Matters

Launched in January 2014, this newsletter published on week days covers 'everything you need to know about what’s going on in Hungary and beyond', according to its publisher the state media agency MTI.

  • Watch: Budapest Working to Prevent Ukraine from Joining EU

    Watch: Budapest Working to Prevent Ukraine from Joining EU

    • 24 Jul 2025 10:50 AM

    CNN Business editor-at-large Richard Quest speaks with Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó about EU trade negotiations with the US, why Hungary opposes Ukraine's EU membership, and the status of anti-LGBT legislation in Hungary.

  • We Face Serious Threat of 3rd World War, Claims Hungarian FM in New York

    We Face Serious Threat of 3rd World War, Claims Hungarian FM in New York

    • 24 Jul 2025 9:06 AM

    Mankind today is facing a serious threat of a third world war, Peter Szijjarto, the foreign minister, said in New York on Wednesday, adding that the United Nations had to do everything it could to prevent such a conflict, for which it was crucial to make progress in ending the war in Ukraine.

  • Why Foreign Ministry Summonsed Ukraine Ambassador to Hungary - Again

    Why Foreign Ministry Summonsed Ukraine Ambassador to Hungary - Again

    • 18 Jul 2025 5:08 PM

    Ukraine's ambassador to Hungary was summoned to the ministry of foreign affairs and trade again, this time over the issue of the church in Palagy Komarivci (Palagykomoroc), the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Thursday, adding that Hungary was sending aid for the reconstruction of the church still today.

  • 'Hungary-Slovak Relations at All-Time High'

    'Hungary-Slovak Relations at All-Time High'

    • 29 Apr 2025 2:10 PM

    It is not an exaggeration to say that Slovak-Hungarian relations are the best they have ever been, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a joint press conference with Slovak counterpart Robert Fico in Bratislava.