Minister Aladrović: We will help entrepreneurs as long as the situation allows

The Ministry of Labor and Pension System plays an important role in distributing support for job preservation, which was the reason for Lider’s conversation with the relevant minister Josip Aladrović. So far, only the first round of support for job preservation worth 1.58 billion kuna has been paid out, received by 84 thousand employers for 486.4 thousand workers, said the minister.

Epidemiological measures are easing, some economic entities are opening up, but some still do not know when and under what conditions they will be able to operate. Can the government take a step further to help those who have not been assessed as the main ‘drivers of the economy’ to retain the existing number of employees, but also to maintain the previous number of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs?

– The previous measures show that this government values every sector of the economy and the size of the business entity, regardless of whether it is about so-called freelancers or large companies with thousands of employees. This is also shown by the data and structure of users of job preservation support for March. As many as 91.78 percent of users are micro-entrepreneurs, and 6.99 percent are small. We help and will continue to help as long as the situation allows. Government resources are limited, and the intention is to identify those groups that are most affected by the crisis and assist them. I say ‘most affected’ because we are all affected in some way, but those whose existence has been brought to the brink by the crisis caused by the coronavirus differ from those who have only been disrupted in achieving their annual plans.

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As we saw after the announcement of data on users of the measures, some companies that qualified for job preservation measures were certainly not on the brink of existence; they may have just been disrupted in some plans, as you say. Will there be new conditions for granting support in the next period?

– In mid-March, when the job preservation measures were presented, we had two main goals: to help the economy retain jobs as quickly and concretely as possible. And we succeeded in that. A comprehensive analysis of the measure should wait for data for April, as the restrictive pandemic defense measures were active for the entire month. The measure was implemented quickly, and there was no significant layoff. We have adjusted the conditions twice so far, and I will not rule out the possibility that we will supplement them in the next period, depending on analysis and need.

It has been announced that the job preservation support measure lasts for three months. After June, will there be new measures? Which ones?

– The government will present further packages of assistance measures in a timely manner and respond to challenges as effectively as the previous measures. I believe that in the upcoming period, things will start to improve and that it will not be necessary to extend the measures in their current form, but it is certain that some form of assistance will be necessary until the economic situation normalizes. We are ready for that option. As has been stated all along, all measures we propose must reflect the current and future epidemiological situation.

The Croatian Employers’ Association has called on social partners for discussions on urgent amendments to the Labor Law. HUP believes that the law urgently needs to introduce a provision on a state of emergency and simplify the regulation of workers’ material rights in conditions of reduced business activity. Should the Labor Law be changed now?

– The Government of the Republic of Croatia and the relevant ministry, as well as the governments of other countries due to the global pandemic, are considering all aspects of the impact of the implementation of the anti-epidemic measures currently in force, including the impact on labor relations. The Croatian Employers’ Association, as a member of the Economic and Social Council, has requested a thematic session of the ESC on amending the Labor Law, and we agree that the session should be held and that both social partners should present their positions. However, there are no plans for unilateral normative interventions in the existing Labor Law or the adoption of a special law that would regulate labor relations differently or suspend workers’ rights. Namely, the impact of the epidemic on the economy at this moment is incalculable, and it is impossible to predict the circumstances in which it will be after the epidemic ends.

In addition to the ESC and discussions with partners about the Labor Law, you also have negotiations with public service unions ahead of you. How will the public sector bear the burden of this crisis, what is the government’s initial position in those negotiations?

– The government will appoint a negotiating committee for negotiations with public and state service unions this week, which I believe will start quickly, and it is too early to say in which direction the discussions with union representatives will go. As we could hear at the Economic and Social Council meeting and at a recently held consultative meeting, we encountered mutual understanding that I believe will continue during the negotiations. We expect solidarity and certain sacrifices from everyone so that we can emerge from the crisis as quickly as possible and with fewer consequences.

What exactly do you mean when you say that ‘you expect solidarity and certain sacrifices from everyone’? What if representatives of workers in the public sector do not show the will for that solidarity?

– In negotiations, it is important to listen to the arguments of each side and try to find a compromise; that is our goal. It is already clear that there will be sacrifices from everyone, and in negotiations, we will strive to find the best level of ‘solidarity and sacrifice’.

Do you still insist that pensions are secure and that they will not be delayed? The real question is how long we are secure if we are losing revenue from VAT, tourism…

– As I have said countless times before, the payment of pensions is secure. Pension beneficiaries are a special group in our society, and I believe that with all the measures we are implementing, the security of pension payments will not be called into question. They are our last line of defense.

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