Unions ask for referendum on extended application of collective agreements

The four trade union federations on Wednesday forwarded a letter to Croatian Parliament Speaker Boris Sprem and members of parliament urging them to see to it that a referendum be called on the extended enforcement of regulations from collective agreements.

The federations whose acronyms are the SSSH, the NHS, the HUS and the URSH recall that two years ago they had collected a total of 717,149 signatures for calling a referendum on the retention of regulations on the extension of the enforcement of collective agreements upon their expiry. As soon as it was clear that the unions collected the sufficient number of signatures, the previous (HDZ) government withdrew its proposal which was designed to cancel the said regulations.

Unionists believe that the matter has become again topical with the proposal from the government led by Social Democrat Zoran Milanovic to amend the labour legislation which would lead to the end of extended application of collective agreements.

The union federations also believe that the collection of those 717,149 signatures could serve as a basis for the parliament's decision to call the requested referendum. (Hina)