NHS leader Kresimir Sever on Thursday presented officials at the Italian Embassy in Zagreb with a letter informing Berlusconi that Italian employer was not respecting the rights of "Dalmatinka Nova" workers and was harassing the union commissioner at the company.
The NHS will not tolerate such conduct by foreign employers, we are fed up with domestic employers violating workers' rights, Sever told reporters after the meeting at the embassy. He added that similar messages would be sent to the embassies of all foreign countries whose employers were found to violate the rights of Croatian workers.
La Distribuce bought the Sinj textile company in bankruptcy in 2002. It assumed the obligation to regularly pay wages, keep the existing number of employees for at least five years and make investments into production.
Wages are late, workers are kept in anxiety and supervised even when going to the toilet, while the union commissioner was suspended for advocating workers' rights, the HNS claims in the letter.
Workers who spontaneously discontinued work on 12 December have still not received their wages, Sever said.
The HNS said it did not expect Berlusconi to interfere in the business policy of the Italian firm, but it expected him to caution its owners that such conduct was harmful for the promotion of Italy and the country's business reputation.
If the letter does not help change the current situation, the HNS will organise protest rallies in front of the Italian Embassy and in Sinj and notify the international union movement of the case, Sever said.