ZAGREB, March 9 (Hina) - The mayor of Zagreb, Vlasta Pavic, has said that the hour-long warning strike, announced for Wednesday by the city-owned companies, will not significantly affect the normal functioning of the city, and
reiterated that she cannot approve a 17-percent rise in salaries which trade unions in the said companies demand.
ZAGREB, March 9 (Hina) - The mayor of Zagreb, Vlasta Pavic, has said
that the hour-long warning strike, announced for Wednesday by the
city-owned companies, will not significantly affect the normal
functioning of the city, and reiterated that she cannot approve a
17-percent rise in salaries which trade unions in the said companies
demand.#L#
The trade unions of 12 public companies in Zagreb have announced the
strike for Wednesday as a prelude to a series of strikes that would
last until their demand for the 17-percent pay rise was met.
Pavic told a news conference on Tuesday afternoon that the city
authorities and their negotiating team had not yet made any decision
on the announced strike and said the upshot of the requested rise
would be an increase in prices of city transport and other services.
She went on to say that she could accept a three-percent pay rise and
that some 35 million kuna could be appropriated from the city's budget
for that purpose.
The trade unions said the city government had been refusing for two
years to negotiate a pay rise, and that their pay was 500-600 kuna
lower than that of employees in city administration.
The average monthly salary in the city administration, in which
employees with university degrees account for 39 percent of the staff,
totals 4,870 kuna and has not been increased since 1998, while in the
said companies only seven percent of employees have college degrees
and their average salary is 4,711 kuna. Their salaries were increased
a few years ago, deputy mayor Stipe Tojcic said.
(Hina) ms sb