The Science Union supports the struggle of workers at A1 Hrvatska and the Croatian Telecommunications Union for the conclusion of their first collective agreement, it was announced today, after the Croatian Telecommunications Union announced a protest in downtown Zagreb on Friday, demanding higher wages and a collective agreement in telecommunications A1 Hrvatska, but also better conditions for all underpaid workers in the telecommunications and IT sectors.
– It is shameful that workers in a large and successful company like A1 Hrvatska do not have a collective agreement and that they have to fight for it on the streets. The employer’s resistance in A1 Hrvatska, not only to the conclusion of a collective agreement but also to collective negotiations as such, has been ongoing for years, according to available media information, and negotiations are conditioned by signing a special confidentiality statement.
The catastrophic message that A1 sends to society is that workers in Croatia are worth less than those in the parent company in Austria. Those workers regularly enjoy the rights of a concluded collective agreement, and no confidentiality statement was required for its signing. How is it possible that A1 Hrvatska imposes conditions on its workers that it knows cannot pass in Austria?
According to the EU Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages, all EU countries should strive for worker coverage by collective agreements to be above 80 percent. If the government wants to achieve this, it is essential that it actively promotes the benefits of collective bargaining and motivates employers to do the same, states the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education.
