Doctors Protest at Noon in Cvjetni

The Croatian Medical Union is organizing a protest at noon in Zagreb’s Cvjetni Square, expecting a large turnout of striking doctors, who have been on strike for 23 days.

The strike will not cease until a new Collective Agreement is signed, says the president of the Croatian Medical Union, Ivica Babić, and negotiations will continue immediately after the protest.

In yesterday’s round of negotiations, they discussed the most contentious and complex item of the contract – the payment for on-call duties. Babić assessed that the discussion was dynamic and that certain issues were clarified to the end. He reiterated that the strike will end when they have a document in hand that has legal force and effectiveness.

This union demands that on-call duty, which is legally considered overtime work, be treated as such and that every recorded overtime work be paid. “We do not insist on overtime work, but if the employer wants it, then it should be paid as much as overtime work is paid in the state and public sector, which is the labor price increased by 50 percent,” said Babić.

The president of the Croatian Professional Union of Nurses and Technicians, Anica Prašnjak, said that they mostly talked about the method of calculating on-call duties, but they did not reach a conclusion because, she emphasizes, it is a complex situation. The calculation of on-call work after regular, weekly, and monthly hours is complicated, especially when each of us has our own wishes, said Prašnjak.

The leader of the Independent Union of Health and Social Care, Spomenka Avberšek, briefly commented after the meeting: “A wolf changes its fur, but never its character.”

Health Minister Rajko Ostojić expressed regret that they did not sit at the table in August and September because, he said, they would have already had a signed collective agreement today. He believes that they will manage to sign it by October 15, which is also the deadline for concluding negotiations. “From our side, there is no dispute; every hour must be recorded, every overtime must be paid, and it will be paid as in other public services,” concluded Ostojić.