‘Better a Little Sacrifice than Layoffs’

The Minister of Entrepreneurship and Crafts, Gordan Maras, stated today that for employees in the public sector, a little sacrifice is better than layoffs that the Government would be forced to implement without salary reductions.

In the Government, we assessed that it is a much better solution for people to sacrifice a little than to go into layoffs, said Maras when asked for a comment on Prime Minister Zoran Milanović’s announcement of a three percent reduction in gross salaries in the public sector.

– In the Government, we assessed that this is better. It should be clear to everyone that the priorities are exiting the crisis, consolidating public finances, and attracting investors who certainly will not come to a country where public debt is rising – said Maras.

According to him, the Government’s obligation is to implement fiscal consolidation, so in discussions with unions and others involved in the public sector, it must find ways to keep deficits as low as possible.

We must protect the Croatian economy for all those who want to invest in it and create jobs. This is the Government’s priority, and within that is the regulation of relations in public services, says Maras.

The announcement by Prime Minister Zoran Milanović that employees in public and state services, except for educators, will have their gross salaries reduced by three percent, was met with great discontent in the unions of public and state services, which say – the Government has deceived us.
Union representatives remind that they signed collective agreements with the Government in which they renounced some material rights, such as Christmas bonuses and severance pay, in order to preserve salaries and jobs, and now the Government is going back on its word not to touch salaries.

In August, the Government signed a Collective Agreement for State Officials with the unions of state services, committing for four years not to reduce salaries, but it is clear that it was signed with a ‘fig in the pocket’. We feel deceived and betrayed, stated Boris Pleša, president of the Union of State Officials and Employees of Croatia, to Hina.

Part of the public services union also signed a new Basic Collective Agreement for public services at the end of last year, in which they renounced part of their material rights in exchange for a promise to preserve salaries and jobs.

– This was a deception, not good faith negotiation – emphasizes Spomenka Avberšek, president of the Independent Union of Health and Social Care of Croatia.

The Government cannot constantly ask employees to agree to salary reductions instead of saving in other areas.

– For years, I have been claiming that reorganizing the healthcare system can save a billion kuna annually – said Avberšek.

Although Milanović announced that salaries for employees in primary and secondary schools would not be touched, but rather their coefficients would be increased, the head of the Croatian Teachers’ Union, Vladimir Milošević, is skeptical about the fate of his members’ salaries.

They promised us a five percent increase in coefficients to compensate for the fact that last summer we lost the salary supplement of 3, 5, 7, and 9 percent. However, there is a plan to remove the loyalty supplement of 4, 8, and 10 percent, which will affect teachers with 20 or more years of service, warns Milošević.

Currently, teachers’ salaries are about 500 kuna lower than the average salaries in the country, and with the new removal of the supplement, they will fall well below the national average, claims Milošević.

The reduction of salaries for about 230,000 employees in public and state services is a continuation of the misguided Government policy from last year, when it directly hit consumption through an increase in VAT and electricity and gas prices, resulting in reduced demand and production and job losses, assessed Krešimir Sever, president of the Independent Croatian Trade Unions.

The Government has shown that it has no solution for reviving the economy, and now it has also proven its own unreliability. “I expect a strong reaction from public sector unions, including protests and strikes,” said Sever.

Union leaders have begun discussions about a large May Day protest, but it is now quite possible that this will happen even before Labor Day, says Sever.