CRO GOVERNMENT GIVES SHIPYARDS MONEY FOR OCTOBER SALARIES

ZAGREB, Nov 10 (Hina) - The Croatian Finance Ministry on Wednesday transferred to the account of "Brodosplit-Brodogradiliste" company from Split a total of 13,818,000 kuna (US$1,867,297) for this year's October salaries. With this transfer the Government has fulfilled its obligation toward shipbuilding companies and there is no reason any more for "Brodosplit" workers to continue their strike, the Finance Minister's cabinet said in a statement today. Employees with the Split shipbuilding company were on strike yesterday and on Wednesday morning protesting that the money for their salaries had not been transferred. According to the latest statement by the strikers' committee, the strike ended around 1 pm today. "Brodosplit-Brodogradiliste" director Vinko Rosic does not believe the company will continue operating normally because it owes money to its sub-contractors and power product suppliers. At a session held on Monday behind closed doors, the Croatian Government adopted a set of decisions regarding the financial reorganisation of the Croatian shipbuilding industry. According to Finance Minister Borislav Skegro, the Government has decided to urgently grant those companies money for salaries and obligations toward foreign creditors, in order to avoid activating some of its many guarantees, worth four billion kuna (US$0.54 billion), granted to shipbuilding companies. Dissatisfied with the results of financial reorganisation achieved so far, the Government will investigate the responsibility of the current managements in Croatian shipbuilding companies. It expects from the financial police, who have already been sent to all shipyards, to submit their findings in three weeks at the latest. The shipyards have requested a total of 321 million kuna (US$43.3 million) of emergency funds by the end of this year, claiming the money would help save 40,000 jobs and enable the completion of construction works on 31 ships. (hina) jn rml ,