ZAGREB, Jan 5 (Hina) - The Croatian Union of Physicians (HLS) on Monday welcomed the government's decision to annul the former government's decision of 14 February 2003 ordering physicians to go back to work after a month-long strike,
and put the strike on hold.
ZAGREB, Jan 5 (Hina) - The Croatian Union of Physicians (HLS) on Monday
welcomed the government's decision to annul the former government's
decision of 14 February 2003 ordering physicians to go back to work
after a month-long strike, and put the strike on hold.#L#
Physicians consider the annulment of the decision as the beginning of
realisation of election promises and the confirmation of the
government's respect for rights and democratic achievements, the union
said in a statement.
The union called on the government and Health Minister Andrija Hebrang
to immediately start social dialogue to resolve the current social
dispute and urged physicians to continue performing their duties after
the annulment of the decision ordering them back to work.
The HLS believes that the social dialogue will be successful and that
it will be completed soon, and hopes that there will be no need to go
on a strike again, but would do so if required.
Croatian physicians are willing to share the fate of their nation, but
they are entitled to an adequate social status, which currently does
not reflect their competence, working conditions and the complexity of
their work, the union said.
Last year's strike was organised after the government refused the
union's demand for a new branch collective agreement and an increase
in physicians' salaries.
The union demanded that the salary of a physician-beginner total at
least two average salaries, which at the time amounted to 7,000 kuna,
and that the salary of specialists amount to two and a half average
salaries or some 9,000 kuna. The demand was turned down as the Health
Ministry established that it would mean a 45-percent pay rise.
The HLS insists on a branch collective agreement and the protection of
acquired rights from the previous collective agreement, union leader
Ivica Babic said.
He added that physicians wanted their salaries to be the same as those
of judges, that general practitioners receive the same salaries as
municipal court judges and specialists the same salaries as county
court judges.
(Hina) rml