BUDAPEST, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Hungarian Parliament adopted here on Wednesday a controversial new labor law that allows employers to ask for up to 400 hours of overtime work per year, a measure rejected by trade unions and opposition parties alike.
The new law passed with 130 in favor, 52 against and 1 abstention.
The vote unleashed unprecedented turmoil in parliament, as opposition MPs occupied the speaker's podium blocking his access.
The ruling Fidesz party nevertheless managed to get the law voted without the use of the podium, sparking criticism from opposition MPs, who then started a demonstration in front of the building of parliament.
The government's new labor code increases the upper limit for overtime work from 300 hours to 400 hours per year. Trade unions and opposition parties dubbed the new draft legislation "slave law" and organized nationwide demonstrations against it.
Moreover, the employers' time limit to pay for the extra work will increase from one year to three years.
Last Saturday, more than 10,000 people demonstrated in Budapest against the revision.
According to a recent survey, four out of five Hungarians are also opposed to the revision.
"The rejection of the bill is huge. According to a representative research carried out in early December, 83 percent of the working age population rejected the proposal. Only 9 percent supported the government initiative," the pollster Policy Agenda said in a statement on Dec. 7.
The new labor law could add two extra hours to an average workday, or the equivalent of an extra workday per week.
The bill, published on parliament's website, guarantees an extra 250 hours of overtime work per worker per year for the employer. For the rest, employers would have to seek the employees' agreement.
However, unionists argue that an average worker is in no position to contradict their employer, and risks losing his or her job.
Fidesz MP Lajos Kosa, the original author of the changes, told parliament this week that the work week in Hungary would continue to consist of five 8-hour days by default, and that employees would get remunerated for overtime work.
Unemployment in Hungary is at a historic low of only 3.7 percent, and the government is opposed to suggestions that immigration is the key to solving the labor shortage problem. Since about half a million Hungarians have left the country to work in western Europe for higher salaries, the only option left for the government is to make those who stay at home work more.
