* Czechs strike in rare labour action
* PM says will not back off, ready to take unpopular steps
(Adds union leader, protester, number of participants)
By Roman Gazdik and Robert Mueller
PRAGUE, Dec 8 (Reuters) - Czech public sector workers went
on strike on Wednesday against the government's plans to cut the
sector's wage bill by 10 percent as part of its austerity drive.
Union leader Jaroslav Zavadil said 123,000 workers in state
administration, schools and hospitals joined the strike, out of
about 600,000 public sector employees. Some government offices
and schools were closed.
Thousands of workers also marched in cities across the
Central European country of 10.5 million, although the rally in
Prague drew only about 1,000 people, according to police
estimates.
The Czech Republic's debt is under 40 percent of gross
domestic product, about half of the EU average but is expected
to rise without reforms. The government wants to cut the public
sector deficit to 4.6 percent of gross domestic product from 5.1
percent expected this year.
The unions have warned they could call a general strike if
the government refuses to change its plans. The last general
strike was in 1989, when millions of Czechs walked out to
protest against the Communist government, one of the decisive
moments in the collapse of communist rule in the country.
"No wise government would do what this one did, to alienate
this group of people, which is, in most countries, loyal to the
government," Zavadil, leader of an umbrella union grouping, told
the Prague rally. "They made you their enemies."
An opinion poll at the weekend the strike had the backing of
60 percent of Czechs. Economists have said they do not expect
the strike to have a big economic impact.
GOVERNMENT UNMOVED
A wave of labour protest has swept through Europe as
governments slash spending to calm markets and narrow budget
deficits inflated by the economic crisis.
The Czech cabinet, elected on a programme of cutting the
budget deficit below 3 percent by 2013 and reforming the
pension, health and welfare systems, refused to climb down on
the wage plan.
"We did not win our mandate to sit and wait until clerks
from international institutions start putting our public sector
finances in order, as is happening in some EU countries," Prime
Minister Petr Necas said on Tuesday.
"We are not afraid of unpopular steps, we are ready to make
them."
Hana Vlckova, a 60-year-old pensioner, said the government
was taxing the poor instead of the rich to fix the budget.
"I am not detached from what is going on, I feel sorry for
our children," she said at the Prague rally.
"My happiness depends on society taking care of people who
cannot care for themselves. That is what I paid taxes for."
Walkouts are very rare in the Czech Republic, where union
membership has shrunk to about 600,000 of 4 million workers.
(Writing by Jan Lopatka; Editing by Alison Williams)
