Leaders in a crisis

In the pocket of her jeans she has a mobile with the number of the personnel director, and she can call him any time someone among the 3,000 employees at the Toyota plant in Kolín need something or are experiencing problems. After two years on an assembly line Klára Bačová, 26, knows about these things. When her arm muscles became inflamed as a result of the repetitive motions she did on the jobs and she needed to find a new role in the company, she became the head of a three-member union group. At the Toyota plant she is now the person others look to when the word „crisis“ is mentioned. „If the plant starts laying off people, I will fight for every employee,“ says the petite, long-haired blonde with determination.

She does not even realise that these days she represents on of the faces of Czech unions – powerful, influential organisations that recently pushed the government into a corner by threatening to strike and won a landmark victory: Food vouchers will not be cut from employee benefits. And while the top-level union officials are planning out how to show their might, and whenever they see a micropohone, the start droning on about the historic solidarity among workers, terrain leaders like Klára Bačová deal with interpersonal problems, complaints, overtimes and other aspects dealing with the quality of the work environment. They are becoming…