SEMINAR ON LABOUR LEGISLATURE HELD

PLITVICKA JEZERA, May 2 (Hina) - Flexibility in labour is a key condition for economic growth and in order to implement this it is necessary to obtain social consensus, it was said at a seminar on labour legislation held at the Plitvice Lakes on Thursday.#L# The seminar was prepared by the International Labour Organisation with financial support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The seminar discussed reforms in European labour legislation, principles of labour laws in EU countries and collective negotiations. Declain Morrin from the Irish Commission for Labour Relations presented some positive Irish experiences. Zeljko Potocnjak, a professor in labour law at the Zagreb Faculty of Law and a judge of the Croatian Constitutional Court believes that by making labour laws more flexible some rights existing in the current law will have to be forfeited. Croatian government members and employers also participated in the seminar, however, the majority of Croatia's unions boycotted the seminar. The only union leader to attend was the president of the Croatian Association of Unions, Zdenko Mucnjak, while the Matrix of Public Service Unions sent a delegate. The president of the Alliance of Independent Unions of Croatia, the Independent Croatian Unions and the Association of Labour Unions of Croatia rejected to participate in the seminar claiming that such an encounter with the Government and employers only served to act out social dialogue which does not actually exist in reality. They nevertheless announced that they would attend the next meeting of the Economic-Social Council (GSV) scheduled for May 6. Social negotiations between the Government, unions and employers would therefore continue through the GSV even though they were halted for a while due to the government's announcement of diminishing labour rights. (hina) sp sb