TWO HOUR RAIL STRIKE OVER

( Editorial: --> 3648 ) ZAGREB, March 31 (Hina) - A two hour strike by three railway workers' unions finished at midday on Tuesday and rail traffic has returned to normal. During the strike, only international passenger trains and trains necessary for the Croatian Army operated. The strike organisers - Union of Engine-Drivers, Union of Traffic Controllers and Union of Technical Train and Carriage Inspectors - want a 20 percent pay rise for operational positions in Croatian Railways (HZ), while HZ management are only conceding a 4.6 percent pay rise across the board. President of the Croatian Union of Engine-Drivers, Nenad Mrgan, said that HZ would have to fork out 4.2 million kuna monthly for the requested pay rise for about 8,000 operational workers. "We assert that in the structure of HZ there is an internal reserve in which means could be found for the pay rise," said Mrgan. The engine-drivers will not abandon their request to change the relation between wages in HZ to benefit operational jobs, said Mrgan adding that he will try to find a solution in further negotiations with management. "If there is no progress in the negotiations, we will organise new strikes and prior to the action members will decide whether it will be of a limited or unlimited duration," said Mrgan. Croatian Railways General Director, Marijan Klaric, again confirmed that management cannot offer the unions more than it has promised at the negotiations. "From 1 May we will increase the wages of all employees by 4.6 percent, but special solutions for individual groups of employees are not possible," said Klaric. The HZ management will soon talk with representatives of the Government and experts from the World Bank about a restructuring programme for Croatian Railways which should start from 1 January next year. Klaric said the programme envisages an annual pay rise of 5 per cent if there is a 20 percent increase in productivity. (hina) mrb/rm 311405 MET mar 98