POSTAL AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS UNIONS ANNOUNCE ALL DAY STRIKE

( Editorial: --> 8943 ) ZAGREB, Sept 8 (Hina) - Three Croatian Post and Telecommunications (HPT) unions announced an all-day strike for October 13, claiming the HPT's management was hampering negotiations regarding a new collective agreement for post and telecommunications employees. Even though the strike announcement was signed on September 2 by the presidents of all four unions, the Association of HPT Unions representative said at a joint press conference held in Zagreb on Tuesday that his union would not strike. The main issue of conflict between unions and management is the unions' demand for an increase in wages. The unions are not asking for an increase in the gross amount of wages for HPT employees which the Government made impossible with its ruling regarding salaries in public companies, but rather they are seeking a redistribution of incentive payments to be added to employees' wages, said Jadranka Dumbovic, president of the Croatian Union for Post and Telecommunications. This would mean the lowest net wage in the HPT would increase by about US$16 and postal workers would be guaranteed maintaining their current level of wages, even after the division of the HPT into separate postal and telecommunications companies. The unions foresee that postal employees will be destined to become dependent on the state budget and the Government will more than likely do away with stimulus pays and decrease some incentives. This would mean that their social standing would need to be ensured by a collective agreement, and only then could negotiations begin regarding specific collective agreements for postal and telecommunication employees. (Hina) sp jn /mbr 081650 MET sep 98