ZAGREB, May 1 (Hina) - The leaders of Croatia's union federations called on workers to unite, saying at the central International Labour Day celebration in Zagreb's Maksimir park on Thursday it was the only way to prevent the
government and employers from reducing workers' rights.
ZAGREB, May 1 (Hina) - The leaders of Croatia's union federations
called on workers to unite, saying at the central International
Labour Day celebration in Zagreb's Maksimir park on Thursday it was
the only way to prevent the government and employers from reducing
workers' rights. #L#
The union federations organised a joint celebration of today's
holiday which pooled some 20,000 people, according to journalists'
estimates. Citizens were treated to the traditional bean broth
accompanied by a day-long entertainment programme.
The union leaders said they "will no longer tolerate the
irresponsible behaviour of the people in authority who, if they
don't take the unions seriously, will share the fate of their
predecessors".
"Until now we always got the worst of it, because we did not act
together, but now the policy of the government and employers, who
want to reduce workers' rights, has forced the unions to fight
together," said Davor Juric, president of the Federation of
Independent Trade Unions of Croatia.
He added that thanks to togetherness and knowledge, the unions had
managed to fight for favourable changes to the Labour Act.
Kresimir Sever, president of the Independent Trade Unions of
Croatia, said the amendments to the Labour Act had changed many
things for the better. He cautioned, however, about phenomena
turning workers into "expendable goods" and taking them back to the
situation they were in a hundred years ago.
Boris Kunst, the president of the Association of Workers' Trade
Unions of Croatia, said unions would not trade with workers' rights
and listen to politicians' false promises.
He said that politicians, for a brief time after coming into power,
behaved modestly. "Now they drive swanky cars and use meetings to
get some sleep."
President Stjepan Mesic and Prime Minister Ivica Racan told the
citizens in Maksimir Croatia was on a good path and that the growth
of the standard of living depended on how fast objectives were
achieved.
The government has ensured a higher growth rate and citizens will
feel a better standard in a year or two, said Mesic and Racan.
International Labour Day is celebrated in Croatia as in most
countries around the world in honour of workers killed in Chicago on
1 May 1886 in big demonstrations which called for eight-hour
working days and higher wages.
(hina) ha sb