METAL WORKERS: LABOUR MINISTER FAILED TO ATTEND TUESDAY MEETING

ZAGREB, Feb 3 (Hina) - Croatian Labour and Social Welfare Minister Joso Skara, who at the end of January had called a meeting with union representatives and employers to discuss problems in eight Croatian metal-processing firms, did not appear at the meeting, which was to be held on Tuesday at the Economy Ministry building. The Union of Croatian Metal Workers (SMH) said in a statement today Skara was the only one who did not appear at yesterday's talks, which were to tackle the situation in the firms "Torpedo" (from Rijeka), TAZ (Zagreb), DALIT (Daruvar), OLT and MIO-Standard (Osijek), "Tehnomont" (Pula), "Digitron" (Buje) and "Elcon" from Zlatar Bistrica. Union representatives met instead with Assistant Economy Minister Milan Cuvalo and Croatian Privatisation Fund vice president Miljenko Weiss to discuss difficulties in the financial reorganisation and rehabilitation of "Torpedo" and "Elcon". Since individual meetings with representatives from the eight firms had been agreed on with the Government in the first half of December, following a protest meeting of metal workers, the failure of Minister Skara and Premier's advisor on financial reorganisation Nada Mamic to attend yesterday's talks imposes a question of whether the Government actually intends to deal with problems in the companies it owns, the SMH said. The Government's irresponsible attitude towards its social partners justifies the request of Croatian metal workers for the Government to resign, the SMH concluded. (hina) rml