CIVIL SERVANTS UNION CLAIMS MINISTRY DISMISSALS NULL AND VOID

ZAGREB, Aug 7 (Hina) - The Union of civil servants and local officials said today the documents making surplus employees of the Interior Ministry available to the government as null and void, since legal procedure was not followed. The union issued a statement today voicing dissatisfaction with the disrespect of legal and contractual commitments the employer should have fulfilled before handing in notices. The Interior Ministry, they say at the union, ought to have submitted to unions a care programme for the surplus employees before the notices were even drawn up. As the formal legal procedure in making the decisions was not followed, the notices are null and void. We thus suggest to all members who received notice to file complaints against the employer, the government, for not having followed the protocol, the union stressed. About 3,100 employees of the Interior Ministry, redundant according to the ministry economising programme, began receiving documents Monday, making them available to the government, while 709 employees have been given dismissal notice, most being deliverers, cooks and maintenance staff. (hina) lml