HT UNIONISTS STAGE PROTEST RALLY

ZAGREB, May 17 (Hina) - About 400 union commissioners of the Croatian Telekom (HT) gathered in front of the HT management building in downtown Zagreb to protest against a proposal for the company's restructuring. Six HT unions have requested that the government guarantee the salaries of 1,404 HT workers of non-main lines of business who will be transferred to newly-established companies by the end of this year, as well as to provide for them for another five years in case those companies go bankrupt. The HT management has offered to guarantee those rights in the next three years and in case the newly-established companies have difficulty operating successfully, the HT offered to provide for them for another two years. The unions also demand that the management return a 72-million-kuna debt to HT workers incurred due to its failure to respect the collective agreement. The protesters expect to meet First Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic and Vice-Premier Slavko Linic, who is the chairman of the HT Supervisory Board. The unions have announced a general strike in two weeks should they fail to reach an agreement with the government officials and the management today. (hina) rml