Samek and Sokolová took over the leadership a week ago after foreman Josef Středula he ceased to be the head of ČMKOS due to doubts surrounding his membership after non-payment of contributions. Blesk was the first to draw attention to the irregularities. The unions were supposed to lead together in an extraordinary trade union congress, which is to decide on a new leadership on March 25.
ČMKOS is the largest trade union headquarters in the country. It covers 31 unions with about 270,000 members. The trade unionists elected lawyer Samek as the first vice-chairman for the first time at their convention in the spring of 2014. He then defended the position of vice-president in 2018 and 2022.
Vít Samek said about his sudden end to Blesk that he felt tired and exhausted at his age. According to his words, he will continue to work for the unions.
You resigned from the post of vice-chairman of ČMKOS today. What led you to this decision?
Yes, I resigned this morning. I asked the union presidents to accept it. I am 71 years old and I have been working in the legislature for 47 years, and in addition to that, in recent years I have been the vice-chairman of ČMKOS and I have been considering quitting for a long time, because it is a lot of effort and at my age I no longer have enough flexibility.
Today I took advantage of the fact that we have an extraordinary parliament before which the unions can even agree on a change and I will be able to focus only on the legal agenda such as the pension reform, the labor code and other topics that in themselves will take up full time.
And why only today and not a week ago, when there was an extraordinary meeting of the ČMKOS board, where you took away the powers of the chairman, Josef Středula, which were transferred to you?
Because we were dealing with this very thing there. Even this morning I was debating whether I should or not, but I finally came to the conclusion that there was no reason to put it off. I’m really tired now, I can feel it. The job often requires time on weekends or late-night TV interviews. I just feel the need to dry out. That is why I asked the presidents of the unions not to persuade me, and I am glad that I met with understanding.
And when I go back to what happened in the past weeks around Mr. Středula, how do you evaluate it with that distance?
Not much to rate there. It’s hard to add anything to that. At the extraordinary ČMKOS Council, we stated that his mandate had expired and it was decided to convene the Assembly.
And the mandate of the chairman of the ČMKOS expired for Mr. Středul already in November with the termination of membership in OS KOVO, or only after the council meeting last Monday?
I understand that the mandate has expired according to the statutes of OS KOVO. We at ČKOS based ourselves on the information we received from OS KOVO. Some temporal connections surfaced only during that meeting last Monday, and accordingly we are leaning towards the fact that Mr. Středula’s membership as chairman expired already in November.
And in your opinion, should Mr. Středula also return the salary that he received in the last quarter of a year as a non-chairman?
We have to rely on the Labor Code. It cannot be trivially said that something should return in this situation. He did the work, went to the relevant meetings.
And what do you say to the fact that Mr. Středula did not inform anyone about the fact that his membership in OS KOVO expired in November and therefore he could not even be the chairman of ČMKOS?
You’ll have to ask him. He explained that he felt that everything was fine.
Do you expect that Mr. Středula will be confirmed as the chairman of ČMKOS?
You have to ask the 99 delegates to that assembly. He has already received some nominations, so he will run, but it will depend on whether he gets enough votes to be elected. This cannot be predicted.
And you yourself will be the delegate who will elect the new leadership next week?
I won’t. I am no longer in any elected office, so I will not be a delegate either.
And you remain an employee of ČMKOS?
Yes, I am staying and will most likely be working as Head of Legal from tomorrow. I held this position until I was elected to the position of vice-chairman, since then there has been no executive here for me.
And was Mr. Středula an employee of ČMKOS before he was elected to the post of chairman?
He was not an employee of CMKOS before he was elected. However, according to our Statute, election to a position establishes the right to conclude an employment contract, which was gradually extended for an indefinite period according to the law, and when the performance of his position ended, the employment contract does not automatically expire. We agreed with him to terminate the employment contract by agreement under standard conditions.
And in what position is Josef Středula in relation to ČMKOS now?
At the moment, he is an ordinary employee and takes a regular vacation, which will be until the Extraordinary Assembly is held.
