ZAGREB, Nov 26 (Hina) - Ahead of Tuesday's meeting with an International Monetary Fund delegation, leaders of Croatian trade unions on Monday expressed doubt that the IMF would accept union requests for a change in its policy, which,
they assessed, was directed against the interests of the Croatian labour force. In the past several days and during their two-week visit to Croatia, IMF representatives held talks with the leadership of the Croatian National Bank and the Croatian Employers' Association. Tuesday's meeting will be an opportunity for unions to voice their views about the implementation of the stand-by arrangement and the IMF's requests from the government. President of the Croatian Association of Unions (HUS), Zdenko Mucnjak, told Hina that the experiences of other transitional countries confirmed that the IMF's requests for a speedy privatisation of public and state-owned companies led to a fall
ZAGREB, Nov 26 (Hina) - Ahead of Tuesday's meeting with an
International Monetary Fund delegation, leaders of Croatian trade
unions on Monday expressed doubt that the IMF would accept union
requests for a change in its policy, which, they assessed, was
directed against the interests of the Croatian labour force.
In the past several days and during their two-week visit to Croatia,
IMF representatives held talks with the leadership of the Croatian
National Bank and the Croatian Employers' Association. Tuesday's
meeting will be an opportunity for unions to voice their views about
the implementation of the stand-by arrangement and the IMF's
requests from the government.
President of the Croatian Association of Unions (HUS), Zdenko
Mucnjak, told Hina that the experiences of other transitional
countries confirmed that the IMF's requests for a speedy
privatisation of public and state-owned companies led to a fall of
life standard of a large part of the labour force through a
reduction in workers' rights and social rights.
"The HUS will request an adjustment of structural reforms to every
country individually, and for the IMF to become more involved in the
payment of expenses of the transition instead of just worrying
whether Croatia would be able to pay back loans," Mucnjak
stressed.
The president of the Association of Croatian Workers' Unions, Boris
Kunst, announced he would warn the IMF about the danger of stirring
greater social unrest if the neo-liberal concept of the
government's social and economic policy continues to be carried out
to the detriment of workers.
Other union leaders also expressed doubt that the talks with the IMF
would yield any results.
(hina) lml sb