Representatives of Four Unions Left Negotiations with the Government

The negotiating committees of the Government and public service unions continued today negotiations on a new Basic Collective Agreement (BCA) for approximately 180,000 employees in healthcare, education, science, culture, and social welfare.

Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Mirando Mrsić stated, after the conclusion of today’s round of negotiations, that the new BCA is intended to be signed by December 20, when the current BCA expires. The Government canceled the BCA because four unions did not agree to its amendments that would reduce the material rights of public service employees in exchange for the preservation of salaries and jobs.

Representatives of these four unions, which are united in the Federation of Croatian Unions, left today’s meeting demanding that collective bargaining be suspended until the Municipal Court in Zagreb makes a decision on their lawsuit against the Government’s cancellation of the BCA.

The representatives of these unions are disturbed that the Government, through amendments to the Law on Representativeness, enabled minority unions to participate in negotiations and that the new BCA would be valid if accepted by only one union from the sector.

“Such a negotiating committee of unions cannot function, as part of the unions is on the Government’s side and is ready to blankly sign whatever the Government wants,” said the president of the Independent Union of Secondary Schools, Branimir Mihalinec. He added that the unions united in the Federation hope to succeed in overturning such a Law on Representativeness, which was enacted solely to fragment the union scene.

Representatives of the remaining seven unions from the negotiating committee continued negotiations with the Government and, according to their representative Željko Stipić, today came close to a solution regarding transportation compensation. “We expect the Government to show additional social sensitivity for employees with the lowest incomes, as transportation compensations are no longer paid in advance but retroactively,” stated Stipić. Minister Mrsić assessed that the negotiations are developing in a constructive spirit and expressed hope that in the next round of negotiations in a week, they will approach the final version of the BCA. “We will strive to improve the solution regarding transportation, and so far, it has been shown in the case of state officials that savings of about 40 percent have been achieved on transportation funds,” said Mrsić.

He added that after the signing of the BCA, negotiations on branch collective agreements regulating numerous salary supplements in public services will continue. He noted that the financial situation in the coming year will not be bright, which is why everyone needs to make certain sacrifices, as the Government will not buy social peace through new borrowing. However, Stipić warned that in education, salaries, even with all supplements, are about 500 kuna lower than the average salaries in the country. “There is no longer room for significant savings on salaries in primary and secondary education,” warned Stipić.