Prague - Czech social workers call for a general strike to be held on 10 December. With their unconventional protest, dubbed BED IN, they want to bring attention to problems in the social care sphere.
There will be no demonstrations in the streets like there were during the last general strike. This time, the protest will be held in beds.
"We were inspired by John Lennon and Yoko Ono who protested against the Vietnam War in their bed," explained social workers in a press release.
"We don't want to demonstrate, rattle keys and wave banners. We will hold a press conference lying in beds in negligé or pajamas."
The strike will be organized by people from social care organizations such as Sananim, Are we open? or Art Language.
"Press conferences will be about mobbing, arbitrariness and incompetence of the state administration and the state´s long-term lack of interest in solving social care problems," explains the statement published online at www.generalni-stavka.info.
No more social care homes!
The BED IN initiative holds that relatives of those who are placed in a social care home should have wider opportunities of using communal services or take care of their relatives at home.
"The current system of social care is an unacceptable form of social service that makes tens of thousands of citizens socially ostracized. It is necessary to stop accepting new clients to social care homes, and this includes children to infant institutions. Stop building new social care homes!" demand the strike organizers.
Communal services should have priority, according to the organizers. They want the alternative communal service to be legalized.
Foster families to have priority
In April this year, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Petr Nečas announced a radical change in social care for children. Social care should become a secondary measure in favor of foster parents.
This means that three quarters of children that are in social care homes could live on their own or with foster families.
BED IN will also draw attention to discrepancies in the law on social care services requiring an amendment in order to secure state funding and avoid bankruptcies for those that provide social care.
Effectiveness and transparency
"We find it necessary to limit the bureaucratic burden that has been doubled by law on social services. We want state and public administrations to be obliged to abide by payment deadlines, to begin monitoring effectiveness of social care services and to create a social service price list," explains the statement.
The initiative also calls for a legislative proposal on transparency of NGOs. The minimum social workers ask for is to make compulsory registration of civic associations, promotion of knowledge of statutory organs, releasing annual reports, making donors and other incomes and expenses public.
