ZAGREB, June 27 (Hina) - A final bill of amendments to the Labour Act is a compromise rather than a radical solution, and the sponsor of the bill regards it as very good despite the failure of social partners to reach a consensus on
the matter, an assistant to the labour minister, Vesna Babic, said at a session of the parliamentary committee on labour, social policy and public health on Friday.
ZAGREB, June 27 (Hina) - A final bill of amendments to the Labour Act
is a compromise rather than a radical solution, and the sponsor of
the bill regards it as very good despite the failure of social
partners to reach a consensus on the matter, an assistant to the
labour minister, Vesna Babic, said at a session of the
parliamentary committee on labour, social policy and public health
on Friday. #L#
"The final bill of amendments is a compromise in comparison to the
initial proposal, and the fact that the consensus has not been
reached by social partners on some provisions is logical, given
that those are stands of different interest groups," Babic said.
Trade unions' representatives voiced dissatisfaction with several
contentious institutes being solved to the detriment of workers,
relating to the cuts in the duration of notices and amount of
severance pays and to the increase of the number of workers employed
by small company from ten to 20.
Unionists advocated the postponement in the implementation of
shorter notices and smaller severance pays and their gradual
application over a few years, given that this could now
additionally aggravate the position of workers in the current
situation in the economy and a high unemployment rate.
A representative of the science workers' union, Vilim Ribic, was
the only of the unionists to voice satisfaction with the final bill
of amendments to the Labour Act, which he described as one of the
best jobs done by three social partners. He, however, admitted that
some things could not be avoided.
The leader of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Croatia
(SSSH), Davor Juric, said the increase in the number of workers
employed by small companies would worsen the position of another
200,000 employees, as those workers were protected to the smallest
extent and were usually not allowed to join unions.
After presenting his stands, the SSSH chief walked out of the
session in protest over a fact that out of 12 members of the
committee only five appeared at the start of the session and later
only three members -- representatives of the Social Democrats --
remained.
The leader of the Federation of Workers' Unions (URSH), Boris
Kunst, appealed to members of parliament to think twice about
voting in favour of the reduction of the current rights of workers,
and warned them that workers would be able to recognise those who
were in favour of their rights at the coming elections.
A representative of the Croatian Employers Association, Ljiljana
Lujanac, said employers were dissatisfied with a series of draft
provisions and therefore they drew up 25 amendments.
The labour committee will vote on changes to the Labour Act on
Tuesday when it should consider amendments to a law on the
protection in the workplace, drawn up by the committee's working
group.
(hina) ms sb