Croatia: Talks On Frozen Salaries Continue

The PM proposed to union heads for 2009`s salary rise to be postponed for a year.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – Representatives of the Croatian cabinet and civil services will meet tomorrow to discuss the cabinet`s proposal of frozen salaries, which the unions have already rejected.

The government team, headed by PM deputy Jadranka Kosor, will try to persuade 15 union heads to accept the proposal on frozen salaries on behalf of 220,000 public and civil servants, so that negative effects of the financial crisis on the Croatian economy are decreased.

Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said, after yesterday`s meeting when union headquarters presidents refused the notion of freezing salaries, that next year`s budget would be without deficit and 1.4 billion kuna, which is the amount that is supposed to be singled out for pay rises, is questionable.

Unions of public and civil services signed a contract with the cabinet in 2006, which guarantees a 3-year pay rise – of six percent per year for civil and most part of public services, with two additional percent per year for education and science employees.

The PM proposed to union heads for 2009`s salary rise to be postponed for a year and negotiations of a new three-year contract would start next autumn.

However, they refused this, pointing out that the cabinet should discuss possible contract changes with those who have signed it – in this case representatives of 15 unions.