PUBLIC SECTOR UNIONS REFUSE DRAFT LAW ON SALARIES

ZAGREB, Dec 4 (Hina) - Unions of public and civil services Monday refused a draft law on salaries n the public sector, assessing its aim as additionally decreasing salaries of public employees. The draft law, motioned by the Justice, Local Government and Self- Government, "makes no sense, is unjust and inapplicable," the coordinator of a negotiation team for the seven unions, Vilim Ribic, said in a statement. The unions are particularly displeased with the fact that the draft law did not include the current progression by salary classes, but instead introduces a 0.5 increase in salaries per working year. There is no country in the world that does not have the payment classes system, and instead of improving the existing system, Croatia is suggesting an old, self-governmental calculation of 0.5 increase per working year, Ribic asserted. The negotiating team of the seven unions in the public sector does not consent to arbitration for determining members of the negotiating team for talks with the government in the next year, the statement said. The seven unions refused the request by minority unions in the public sector that their representatives be included in the negotiating team, as this would render the veracity of data on the numbers of their members disputable. Arbitration, moreover, makes absolutely no sense, because "these dwarf unions" even by their own untrue reports, do not have sufficient membership to enter a negotiating committee, Ribic said. (hina) lml