HT TRADE UNIONS CALL ON WORKERS TO GO ON STRIKE

ZAGREB, July 6 (Hina) - Two Croatian Telekom (HT) trade unions called upon HT employees to go on strike on Friday and protest against the way of the reconstruction of the company and the relationship between workers and the management board, which owes them 150 million kuna. According to the trade unions, of 70 percent of the HT workers currently working, 80 percent are expected to go on strike. Ten percent of the HT employees, namely employees working on the HT system maintenance, have responsibility. According to the announcement of organiser, the strike should have started at midnight, but representatives of the trade union were unable to confirm this. The strike is organised by two of the six HT trade unions, who called on all organisation units to join the strike. Possible mechanical faults will be fixed only on long distance networks but not on local, a trade union official told Hina Thursday evening. The strike is organised because 1,404 workers lost their jobs due to the reconstruction of HT activities. The strike is being held also because of the sale of the 16 percent of the HT stocks to Deutsche Telekom (DT) and because the management board is avoiding collective agreements. HT director Ivica Mudrinic stressed he would not fulfill unreasonable demands made by trade unions. (hina) it