ZAGREB, Oct 10 (Hina) - The working text of the social agreement is not complete as there are still several disputable issues, and the agreement should be completed by the next session of the Economic and Social Council (GSV) next
week, the GSV concluded at a session on Tuesday. Representatives of the government, unions and employers today failed to reach an agreement primarily on commitments the social partners should take over when signing the agreement, i.e. whether the unions should give up the right to union action, including strike. The unions themselves do not have a unanimous stand on the issue. Kresimir Sever of the Independent Croatian Workers Unions believes it is 'insane' to sign an agreement banning union action between 2001 and 2003, while Vilim Ribicic of the Federation of Civil Servants Unions claims it is absurd to sign an agreement on social truce and retain the right to strike. Deputy P
ZAGREB, Oct 10 (Hina) - The working text of the social agreement is
not complete as there are still several disputable issues, and the
agreement should be completed by the next session of the Economic
and Social Council (GSV) next week, the GSV concluded at a session
on Tuesday.
Representatives of the government, unions and employers today
failed to reach an agreement primarily on commitments the social
partners should take over when signing the agreement, i.e. whether
the unions should give up the right to union action, including
strike.
The unions themselves do not have a unanimous stand on the issue.
Kresimir Sever of the Independent Croatian Workers Unions believes
it is 'insane' to sign an agreement banning union action between
2001 and 2003, while Vilim Ribicic of the Federation of Civil
Servants Unions claims it is absurd to sign an agreement on social
truce and retain the right to strike.
Deputy Prime Minister Zeljka Antunovic said the government was not
insisting on unions giving up the right to union action while the
agreement is in effect, but added the obligations of the social
partners had to be clear.
"We need the social truce in order to attract new investors who are
not coming although we have lowered taxes," Antunovic said.
Today's session did not tackle measures for overcoming the economic
crisis - which should be an integral part of the social agreement -
because the Economy Ministry has not prepared the material.
Economy Minister Goranko Fizulic said this was due to a
misunderstanding in the ministry and promised the document would be
drawn up by the next session of the GSV.
If the social partners fail to adopt the complete text of the
agreement, it will be forwarded to each partner for consideration
and the document should be ready for signing by the end of
November.
Today's session also discussed draft changes to the Bankruptcy Law,
which the GSV presidency judged unacceptable. The new draft is much
less favourable for employees than the current law, because they no
longer have priority in obtaining their claims once a company is
declared bankrupt, they said.
The social partners agreed for the deputy prime minister and
representatives of the labour and social welfare and economy
ministries and a GSV commission to try to agree on a new draft on
changes to the Bankruptcy Law before Thursday's government
session.
(hina) jn rml