Poll: Half of Czechs trust trade unions

Prague, Oct 8 (CTK) - Half of Czechs have confidence in trade unions, mostly supporters of the left-wing opposition Social Democrats (CSSD) and Communists (KSCM), according to a STEM agency's poll released to CTK Monday.

The trust in unions remained unchanged in the past two years but it is higher than in the previous years. It was the lowest (43 percent) in 2004, when STEM conducted this kind of poll for the first time, and the highest (55 percent) in September 2010, shortly after the appointment of the current coalition government of Petr Necas (Civic Democrats, ODS), the pollsters recalled.

The poll showed that 11 percent fully trust the unions, while 17 percent said they have no trust in them at all.

STEM concluded that employees and pensioners tend to have higher confidence in unions than the self-employed, entrepreneurs and the unemployed. No marked differences were revealed between poor and rich respondents and those operating in the private and public sectors, however.

Trust in labour unions was expressed by 62 and 60 percent of the followers of the CSSD and the KSCM, respectively. Among ODS and junior government TOP 09 followers, 38 and 49 percent of them trust the unions.

Fifty-two percent of people who are against the current government reforms have confidence in the unions, but also 44 percent of people who support the reforms trust the unions, according to the STEM poll that was conducted on 1205 persons from August 29 to September 5.