Steven N.President Katalin Novák has signed the law restricting teachers’ right to strike, reports Magyar Hang.
The Teachers Union (PSZ) and Democratic Union of Teachers (PDSZ) asked Novák last Wednesday not to sign the law, but to ask for a preliminary check on norms instead.
The interest groups reminded the head of state that the Fundamental Law allows Hungary’s president to send a law or provision to the Constitutional Court for a preliminary check on norms if she feels it is unconstitutional. And since the right to strike is a fundamental right, the provisions of the Public Education Act restricting the possibility of striking would be suspicious at the very least in this regard.
Katalin Novák did not respond publicly nor informally to the teacher unions’ request. According to official website parlament.hu, she received an omnibus bill containing the amendment to the Public Education Act from Parliamentary Speaker László Kövér on May 25, the same day as the request from the teachers.
The President then signed the bill on May 26, which was announced that day in the Hungarian Gazette.
In a now-deleted 2010 blog post, Katalin Novák wrote that she was “grateful to fate… that we do not live on the ridiculous income that a hospital nurse or educator makes.” [Magyar Hang]
