ZAGREB, April 12 (Hina) - The number of discovered and processed violations of labour relations in Croatia has increased over the past five years, the employer-employee relationship in the country being the worst one in all transition
countries, it was said at a seminar on the development of entrepreneurship and implementation of regulations, held in Zagreb last week.
ZAGREB, April 12 (Hina) - The number of discovered and processed
violations of labour relations in Croatia has increased over the
past five years, the employer-employee relationship in the country
being the worst one in all transition countries, it was said at a
seminar on the development of entrepreneurship and implementation
of regulations, held in Zagreb last week. #L#
Deputy Chief State Inspector Ilija Tadic said the State
Inspectorate last year discovered and processed 18,268 violations
in the area of labour relations, after inspecting less than 10% of
all employers.
Most violations refer to the non-registering of workers, the
signing of part-time instead of full-time work contracts (most
frequent in media companies), work without work permits, unpaid
overtime, etc.
Tadic warned about a permanent lack of labour inspectors in the
country. Of a total of 80 labour inspectors, only 59 worked
effectively last year, while Austria had 527 inspectors, Tadic
said.
Kresimir Rozman of the Council of Croatian Public Service Workers
Unions warned that Croatia had the poorest "employer-employee"
relationship of all transition countries, which was partly the
reason why the number of workers' complaints to the inspectorate
had increased in recent years.
Labour and Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic again expressed regret
over a recent decision by union leaders to discontinue negotiations
on changes to the Labour Act.
He did not believe the talks had been terminated for good, but
expected that agreement could be reached after next week's meeting
between union leaders and Prime Minister Ivica Racan.
"We have agreed on most regulations from the Labour Act and for the
two remaining disputable institutes - reduced severance pays and
shorter period of notice - the government has offered a set of
compensation measures via the Employment Bureau," Vidovic said.
(hina) rml