SCHOOL UNIONS SAY GOVT AVOIDS SOCIAL DIALOGUE & SALARY EQUALISING

ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - A negotiating committee of five Croatian school unions on Friday assessed the government was avoiding social dialogue with school unions and did not want to equalise salaries in education with salaries of other state budget beneficiaries. With the current draft state budget for 1999, the government was causing new social unrest, the leaders of the school unions told reporters in Zagreb. Salaries in education in 1999 would not increase at all because the government did not ensure funds for raises, only funds to maintain current basic salaries, said Vinko Filipovic, president of "Preporod". The unionists condemned a memo the Croatian Premier forwarded to the president of parliament on November 24. The memo stated that in drafting the budget for 1999, the government had reached a conclusion on selective salary raises in education. Commenting a protest commissioners of the school unions held in Zagreb two days ago, Vesna Kanizaj, president of the independent union of high school employees, said the school unions would in the future announce neither when nor how they would stage protests. She called on the government to conduct social dialogue. The school unions' leaders called on the Croatian Teachers' Union (SHU) to join them in talks scheduled at the Education Ministry for November 30, to not give the employer another chance to state formal reasons for refusing to sign a protocol on negotiations. The SHU is not conducting negotiations in association with the other five school unions, but with other unions of public and state services. (hina) ha