ZAGREB, June 21 (Hina) - The rally of several thousand public servants, who gathered in Zagreb's central Ban Jelacic square to protest against salary cuts, ended at 1 pm without incidents. Eight unions of public workers started the
meeting exactly at noon by playing "Apokalipso", a big Croatian radio hit of the 1990s, alluding to the situation in public services after the introduction of the wage system. The unionists also played excerpts from an interview with Prime Minister Ivica Racan, in which he claims that "the wage budget should be reduced by 10 percent" and that "salaries should be reduced in various ways but not by cutting individual salaries," to which the protesters started shouting "resign, resign". The disgruntled public workers read out letters to the premier, his deputy Goran Granic, Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac and parliamentary deputy Vesna Pusic. The shouts of "resign" could be also
ZAGREB, June 21 (Hina) - The rally of several thousand public
servants, who gathered in Zagreb's central Ban Jelacic square to
protest against salary cuts, ended at 1 pm without incidents.
Eight unions of public workers started the meeting exactly at noon
by playing "Apokalipso", a big Croatian radio hit of the 1990s,
alluding to the situation in public services after the introduction
of the wage system.
The unionists also played excerpts from an interview with Prime
Minister Ivica Racan, in which he claims that "the wage budget
should be reduced by 10 percent" and that "salaries should be
reduced in various ways but not by cutting individual salaries," to
which the protesters started shouting "resign, resign".
The disgruntled public workers read out letters to the premier, his
deputy Goran Granic, Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac and
parliamentary deputy Vesna Pusic.
The shouts of "resign" could be also heard during the reading of a
letter to Health Minister Ana Stavljenic Rukavina.
An employee at a Split hospital, Andjelko Stojkic, requested that
the health minister resign saying that "some families which have
two members working in the health service have lost as much as 2,000
kuna per month." He called on the minister to cede her place to
someone who would be able to organise the health sector.
The protesters carried banners saying "We call on responsibility",
"You need us, we need you" and "Communist bandits, give bread back
to the poor."
The police estimate that some 7,000 protesters took part in the
rally while union leader Vilim Ribic said the rally was attended by
"five to eight thousand protesters."
(hina) rml