She estimated that about 407,000 workers had salaries lower than 3,300 kuna, which is below the subsistence level.
The minimum costs of a four-member family in July amounted to more than 5,560 kuna, with the average salary covering only 78 per cent of the costs.
Croatia should pass a minimum salary law, which already exists in 18 European states and which would raise the minimum salary to 3,222 kuna. Currently, the minimum salary in Croatia is 2,169 kuna but trade unionists claim that many workers receive even less.
The SSSH has forwarded its minimum salary bill to the government which ties the salary amount to the workers' purchasing power and envisages that it be adjusted to rises in living costs.
Salaries in the private and public sectors should be equated and the trends in managerial salaries should be analysed as they are not adjusted to salaries in their companies, said Knezevic.
She cautioned about the drop in living standards, saying that prices in May were four per cent higher than in May 2005 while the average salary in said period went up only 1.6 per cent.
(EUR1 = 7.25 kuna)