ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament will decide on Friday if it will bind the government to draw up a salary model for officials to include the right to a 0.5% bonus for every year of service, the maximum total bonus being
20%.
ZAGREB, Dec 12 (Hina) - The Croatian parliament will decide on
Friday if it will bind the government to draw up a salary model for
officials to include the right to a 0.5% bonus for every year of
service, the maximum total bonus being 20%. #L#
The MPs have also postponed for tomorrow a vote on changes to the law
on the obligations and rights of state officials and the salaries of
judges and other judicial officials.
The proposal that the government be entrusted with drawing up the
salary model, which would go into force in January 2004, was
presented by Deputy Justice Minister Miljenko Kovac.
The Croatian Peasant Party (HSS) bench considers the proposal
unacceptable because it does not help remove the current legal
vacuum, but extends it to next year, said Luka Trconic.
Trconic requested that the 0.5% bonus be introduced immediately so
that the Law on Labour, which regulates the rights of all workers,
could be fully implemented.
Ivo Skrabalo of Libra agreed with Trconic, stating that granting
the bonus would not burden next year's budget.
Reiterating the government's stand that there would be no salary or
coefficient increases next year, Vice Premier Goran Granic said
that the problem with the bonus could be solved if salary
coefficients were reduced by an average percentage of rights which
depend on years of service.
If that is done, the model could be applied as early as 2003, Granic
said.
Some parliamentary committees and party benches believe that the
0.5% bonus, which is defined by the Labour Law, should be taken into
account when calculating officials' salaries. They believe that
the bonus should be integrated into laws regulating the salaries of
state and judicial officials, even though the 2003 budget does not
envisage funds for that purpose.
MPs adopted a law on an education institute, after which they took
another break, which was requested by the Croatian Democratic Union
bench so that it could consult about a vote on sending Croatian
military policemen to Afghanistan as part of UN peace troops.
(hina) rml