HDZ MPS CALL ON TEACHERS TO END STRIKE

( Editorial: --> 3728 ) ZAGREB, June 25 (Hina) - The parliamentary caucus of the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) has supported the Government's budget revision ensuring an additional US$36 million for teachers' bonuses, including Christmas payments, awards for years of service and gifts for children. The caucus suggested the Government draft a Basic Education Law by the end of the year and present it before the House of Representatives. The teachers' strike close to the end of the academic year "was not an optimal way to resolve the financial status of the educational system", said a HDZ caucus communiqué distributed to the press on Thursday. "We call on the strikers to stop striking," HDZ whip Vladimir Seks told a press briefing after the caucus meeting. Neither the Government nor the parliamentary majority will concede to the strikers' demand for the raising of teachers' salaries by two pay grades, Seks said. If the strikers' demands were met that would encourage other unions of state and public employees to make similar demands, he added. When asked by a journalist to comment on the Government's decision to award the teachers who worked during the strike by 2,000 kuna each, Seks offhandedly answered: "Should we have stimulated those who were not working?" The HDZ whip called for the passing of a law that would ensure that vital public services continued functioning even during strikes like the teachers' dispute. Yet such a law should not bring into question the right to strike, he added. (Hina) mro jn /mbr 251930 MET jun 98