Skoda Auto, a Volkswagen-owned flagship of the Czech industry, faces a strike on Tuesday as the trade unions rejected a final offer that would in all raise an average wage by 13 per cent, union leader Jaroslav Povsik told reporters on Thursday, according to dpa. The union found the offer acceptable for the rest of this year but sought guarantees that the automaker would increase pay in line with inflation in 2008, Povsik told CT24 news channel. "Our goal is to safeguard inflation (increase) for the year of 2008," he said. According to earlier remarks by Skoda's personnel director Martin Jahn, the offer reached the carmaker's limits and further rises would impair its expansion plans. Unless a deal is made in the meantime, the trade union plans to hold a strike in the company's manufacturing operations on Tuesday, Povsik said. According to him, the blue-collar workers were those who fiercely opposed the automaker's final offer. The union initially presented a set of demands that would on the whole increase an average wage by a staggering 24 per cent. Czech wages have annually grown by some 6 per cent. At 22.057 koruny (816 euros), Skoda workers earn on average the highest salaries within the Czech automotive industry but about a quarter of what their Western counterparts make.
