There Will Be No Announced Layoffs at HT Next Year

The management of HT-Croatian Telecommunications today signed a Social Partnership Agreement for 2010 with two unions, according to which there will be no implementation of the redundancy program in HT next year, and the annex extends the existing Collective Agreement until the end of 2010, HT reported.

The Agreement and the Annex to the Collective Agreement, as stated, were signed between the management of HT on one side and the Croatian Telecommunications Union and the Republic Union of Workers of Croatia on the other. "Given the pronounced recession in the economy, the high level of unemployment in Croatia, and in the spirit of social partnership, the signatories of the Agreement jointly determine that during 2010, there will be no implementation of the redundancy program in the company HT-Croatian Telecommunications d.d.," the statement reads. It adds that the redundancy program is expected to continue in 2011, for which certain funds are intended to be reserved in the last quarter of this year. The existing Collective Agreement, which regulates the current level of wages and material rights, will be extended until the end of 2010.

"With these agreements, we demonstrate a new dimension in the development of social partnership and a constructive approach by partners that will enable social peace and the company’s focus on user needs and market demands in times of crisis," the statement concludes. It also conveys a statement from the CEO Ivica Mudrinić that "all parties signed the agreement in the spirit of social partnership, taking into account the high unemployment rate in Croatia and the economic challenges we all face."

In a telephone statement to Hina, the president of the Republic Union of Workers of Croatia, Jadranko Vehar, assessed the signing of the agreement under which there will be no declaration of technological surplus in T-HT in 2010 as a significant step forward during the recession. "Regardless of the difficulties in the market, it is a brave act by the employer that there will be no technological surplus in 2010. Especially since HT has been a record holder in layoffs over the past five years," said Vehar.

He provides data that in the last five to six years, the number of employees in HT has decreased by about 50 percent, meaning that during this period more than 5,000 people have left T-HT through various means of redundancy, whether as technological surplus, due to outsourcing (separating some business functions), voluntary departure, and so on. From about 11,000 employees in 2002, the number of employees in HT has fallen to about 5,700-5,800, says Vehar, noting that alongside departures there were also new hires. The unions will make good use of the next year, especially regarding the negotiations that will follow about the new collective agreement, emphasizes Vehar, reminding that T-Com and T-Mobile will merge from January 1 next year. It should be avoided that any of those workers end up in a worse situation than they were, said Vehar. (H)