ZAGREB, Aug 7 (Hina) - The Croatian Police Union's strike committee held a closed-door meeting in Zagreb on Tuesday, discussing specific union activities in response to Interior Ministry notices putting some 3,100 people at the
government's disposal. Union president Dubravko Jagic declined to say what was discussed and decided. He announced a press conference for Wednesday. The union is unhappy with a care-providing programme for surplus labour which it says does not guarantee jobs for those who have been put at the government's disposal. Notices to that effect have elicited stormy reactions. The highest number of police in question, about 150, rallied in front of the Vukovar-Srijem County police department in the eastern town of Vinkovci where, according to the Interior Ministry's economising programme, there are 527 surplus workers. Another 120 police who have received Interior Ministry notices rallied in front of the Bjel
ZAGREB, Aug 7 (Hina) - The Croatian Police Union's strike committee
held a closed-door meeting in Zagreb on Tuesday, discussing
specific union activities in response to Interior Ministry notices
putting some 3,100 people at the government's disposal.
Union president Dubravko Jagic declined to say what was discussed
and decided. He announced a press conference for Wednesday.
The union is unhappy with a care-providing programme for surplus
labour which it says does not guarantee jobs for those who have been
put at the government's disposal.
Notices to that effect have elicited stormy reactions. The highest
number of police in question, about 150, rallied in front of the
Vukovar-Srijem County police department in the eastern town of
Vinkovci where, according to the Interior Ministry's economising
programme, there are 527 surplus workers.
Another 120 police who have received Interior Ministry notices
rallied in front of the Bjelovar-Bilogora County PD in the northern
town of Bjelovar. They demand their jobs back or the retirement of
surplus labour within five years.
About 30 police protested in front of the county PD in the central
Adriatic town of Zadar, and some 50 in Karlovac.
Discontented police also gathered before police departments in the
Osijek-Baranja, Brod-Posavina, and Virovitica-Podravina
counties.
According to the Interior Ministry, the majority of about 400 who
will not be provided with care include officers who finished only
elementary school or submitted forged diplomas.
Ministry spokeswoman Zinka Bardic said that 383 police who enjoy
war disabled status would retain all labour entitlements until they
were provided with new jobs.
The other police who have been put at the government's disposal will
retain the status of civil servants with all labour entitlements
for six months, unless they are provided with another job in the
meantime, said Bardic.
She emphasised that war disabled police would be provided for
through a special programme in cooperation with the War Veterans'
Ministry.
Commenting on today's protests, Bardic said they were a legitimate
form of expression.
She stressed the latest notices did not mean dismissals, adding
that each case would be tackled separately. The care-providing
programme ends at the end of the year.
(hina) ha