In the most optimistic scenario, the new TKU will be signed in two weeks

The negotiating committees of the Government and the public services unions began negotiations today on the Government’s proposal for a new Basic Collective Agreement for public services, which provides the same rights for 180,000 employees in education, science, healthcare, social care, and culture as for civil servants.

The Government offers public services unions the same model of collective agreement that it previously signed with civil service unions – an annex to the TKU would be signed under which public servants would remain without Christmas bonuses and severance pay this year and next, jubilee awards would be halved, and transportation allowances would be reduced, said Deputy Prime Minister Neven Mimica after the first round of negotiations concluded. In exchange for these concessions, the Government would not touch the salaries and jobs of public servants.

Union representative Ljubica Pilić stated that she does not expect major discussions about the new TKU in the continuation of negotiations, as part of the unions already accepted the Government’s offer during negotiations held last summer regarding amendments to the existing TKU.
At that time, the negotiations failed because four unions from science, education, and nursing did not want to accept the Government’s offer, prompting the Government to initiate the process of terminating the existing TKU, which is currently in extended application until December 21.

The Government hopes that a new TKU will be signed by then, and Minister of Labor and Pension System Mirando Mrsić stated that, according to the most optimistic estimate, the TKU could be concluded within two weeks. Leaders of the four unions, led by Vilim Ribić, previously announced that they would not accept the Government’s offer now either, but would fight against the reduction of material rights through protests, strikes, and lawsuits.

However, this does not concern Mrsić, who expects that other unions will accept the new TKU, and according to the new Law on Representativeness, for the expansion of the TKU to all activities, it is sufficient for at least one union from a specific activity to agree. According to him, most unions understand the situation Croatia is in and accept the Government’s goal of maintaining the planned budget deficit and fiscal rule through savings.

According to initial data on the implementation of the Collective Agreement for civil servants, significant savings on transportation allowances have already been achieved, as the required funds have been reduced by 30 percent on a monthly basis, Mrsić added. The Minister of Labor also announced that after the signing of the TKU, negotiations on branch collective agreements would continue based on that.