Stipić announced lawsuits: By failing to pay transportation allowances, the Government opens a front with school unions

If the Government does not soon find a solution for the payment of transportation allowances to public service employees in the manner prescribed by the Basic Collective Agreement (BCA), the Union of Employees in Croatian Education “Preprod” will start filing lawsuits for its members, announced the union president Željko Stipić on Monday, accusing the Government of negotiating with unions with a “fig in its pocket.”

The BCA signed five months ago stipulated that the transportation allowance is to be paid at the rate of one kuna per kilometer, but the Government interprets this as a gross amount, or net 0.75 kuna, which is the same amount that employees received even before the signing of the new BCA, Stipić warned at a press conference.

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“Some teachers have been deprived of amounts greater than 10,000 kuna,” stated Stipić, calling out the Government to negotiate in good faith with unions, of which every third member is employed in public or state services, instead of negotiating with a fig in its pocket.

If the Government does not comply with the BCA, we will take the only option left to us and involve the judiciary in resolving the dispute, he stated.

“Instead of negotiating at the table, the Government very often, especially with majority unions, negotiates under the table, all to the detriment of workers, from whom it even tries to take away what is guaranteed by the collective agreement, as seen in this case,” he emphasizes.

If it continues down this path, and it seems it will, the Government will face the opening of yet another front, warns Stipić – a front with school unions, and very likely also a conflict with public service unions.

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Stipić explains that this situation arose because the Government became aware that increasing the allowance also means increasing expenditures, so instructions were sent from the Ministry of Science and Education to principals that the transportation allowance should not be paid in cases where teachers have any form of transportation, even though the BCA clearly states that organized transportation must exist.

After public service unions requested clarification, a meeting was held with the Minister of Labor and Pension System Marko Pavić, followed by a proposal that the transportation allowance be paid at the rate of one kuna gross.

“A fantastic proposal, I just don’t know which sick mind came up with it, which sick mind thought that this way they would avoid respecting what the Prime Minister signed,” commented Stipić.