Public Service Unions Announce Lawsuits, While State Employees Expect Salary Increases

Public service unions will file lawsuits against the state, likely by the end of the year, if the difference arising from the increase in the salary base due to GDP growth of more than two percent in two consecutive quarters is not paid, while state service unions expect an automatic increase in the salary base of six percent from January 1, 2017, along with the obligation for new negotiations on the base in the upcoming period.

The president of the Croatian Trade Union Confederation, Vilim Ribić, stated that employees in public services should have their salary base returned to the level of 5415 kuna gross (currently 5108 kuna) based on the agreement from 2009, and their salaries should be aligned with the growth of salaries in the economy during that period. Therefore, he expects the new government to fulfill these obligations, and lawsuits are not the focus and should not be in a normal state with a normal judiciary, says Ribić.

– This is not in anyone’s interest because we will surely win the lawsuits, if not in the politicized and corrupt Croatian judicial system, then certainly at the European level in 7 to 8 years. It is in our members’ interest to receive the money now, so it would be absurd for this to go to court, emphasizes Ribić.

Regarding the total amount that should be paid to public servants, which is mentioned to be between 1.8 billion kuna and even 7 billion kuna, this depends on the methodology used to calculate when GDP growth was 2 percent or more, i.e., when the obligation to increase salaries comes into effect. According to him, it is actually about three steps – the first is returning the base to the level from 2009, the second is aligning salaries in public services and the economy, and the third is reaching a fair price for labor for public servants, the media reports. Ribić reminds that back in 2009, according to the agreement with former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader from 2006, a salary increase of 6 percent was supposed to follow, but the state did not have the money at that time, so the fulfillment of that obligation was postponed, and the agreement postponed the payment of the salary difference until there is enough money in the budget.

As for employees in state services, the Secretary-General of the Union of State and Local Officials and Employees of Croatia, Siniša Kuhar, notes that, according to their agreement with the government, the salary base for 2017 has already been set at 5415 kuna gross. With the real GDP growth in the first and second quarters of 2016 of 2.7 and 2.8 percent, the conditions from the Agreement on the Automatic Application of the Base from January 2009 have been met, so from the New Year, salaries for employees in state services must increase by six percent, and representatives of the government and unions should also open negotiations on the base in the upcoming period, says Kuhar.