BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4875

HR-BULLETIN-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4875 HINA Zagreb 25 January 2003NEGOTIATIONS FAIL, DOCTORS' STRIKE GOES ONZAGREB, Jan 25 (Hina) - Although it was expected that the Health Ministry and the Croatian Doctors' Union would reach an agreement on Saturday and that the doctors' strike would end, negotiations once again returned to the beginning and the strike is on. It was announced negotiations would resume on Monday. The union asked for a linear pay increase for doctors in the amount of 2,000 kuna (267 euros) and proposed its own draft of an agreement minutely regulating doctors' duties and rights, but the ministry officials turned them down. Minister Andro Vlahusic said the negotiations had been initiated by the union which insisted on its own draft of the deal. The draft, however, has all the elements of a profession's collective agreement which the government cannot accept as there is no such agreement for any other profession, he said. Vlahusic said the agreement