Government Offers Base Salary Increase to 1015 Euros, Unions Reject It

Minister of Labor Marin Piletić reported after the negotiating meeting that the government presented the unions of state and public services with a revised, higher salary base offer for 2026, starting from July 1 – of 1015 euros and 360 euros annual food allowance, but the unions say it is unacceptable to them. When increased allowances, Christmas bonuses, and severance pay of 300 euros are added, along with the newly introduced right to Easter bonuses and a food allowance of 360 euros, this results in a total annual income for all 265,000 employees amounting to 1060 euros, emphasized Minister of Labor, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Marin Piletić in a statement to journalists.

As the unions state that the increased government offer is unacceptable to them, the government finds their demand for an 8 percent increase in the base salary unacceptable in a year when inflation is expected to rise by 2.8 percent, and the base salary has already been increased by 6 percent earlier this year.

Minister Piletić emphasized that the government’s offer is in favor of all workers.

– The model that is more focused on net payments to all workers through non-taxable material benefits, with a portion in the base salary, is indeed beneficial to them, as 30 euros net and a base salary of 1015 euros are equivalent to an increase of 4 percent in the base salary, and in that case, each worker would receive a significantly smaller amount than through a monthly food allowance of 30 euros and a 1 percent increase in the base salary – explained Piletić.

The government has increased salaries in public and state services by 70 percent since 2020

When asked for a comment on the IMF’s recommendation to limit salary increases in public and state services, Piletić stated that this is nothing new and that the government is pursuing a clear policy of continuous salary growth, reminding that the government has increased salaries by 70 percent from 2020 to today, while salaries in the EU have grown by 20 percent.

– We will continue to raise salaries in the state and public sector, but not at the intensity seen from 2022 to 2024, however, negotiations are underway to bring positions closer. It will take some time for the unions to understand that an 8 percent increase in the base salary is not in the draft budget for the next year, as all planned expenditures cannot exceed the planned deficit of 2.9 percent. The previously high growth of the base salary is not possible next year – emphasized Piletić.

Public service unions are not satisfied with the government’s offer, said the president of the Croatian Trade Union Confederation Sanja Šprem, deeming it unacceptable and announcing that the union side will have to ‘tighten the situation’.

– The government’s offer of a 1.10 percent increase in the base salary, considering the expected inflation of 2.8 percent next year, is therefore unacceptable, and it is high time for the government to realize that workers in Croatia live quite differently from the already seen guidelines and recommendations of the IMF. They always come at the time of negotiations and are not binding for the government, let alone for the unions – said the Coordinator of the union negotiating team Anica Prašnjak.

The government must come up with a much better offer acceptable to the unions, she added. The Coordinator of the union negotiating team Prašnjak noted that they requested a 4 percent increase in the base salary from January 1 and September 1, as well as a food allowance of 60 euros starting in January.

The president of the Croatian Police Union Dubravko Jagić stated that the government offered a gross salary base of 1015 euros starting from July 1 next year, daily allowances and field bonuses are equalized at 30 euros, the food allowance is increased to 30 euros from April 1, 2026, and the childbirth allowance is increased from half to the full base, or about 440 euros. We continue negotiations further, we must present this to the union bodies and membership, and then we will see what to do next, added Jagić.