STILL NO AGREEMENT BETWEEN SCHOOL UNIONS AND EDUCATION MINISTRY

ZAGREB, Nov 30 (Hina) - Representatives of the Croatian Education and Sport Ministry and five school unions on Monday failed to reach an agreement on opening the bargaining on salaries of school employees in 1999. Following the completion of the latest round of talks with union representatives, Deputy Education Minister Miroslav Doresic said he had reiterated his offer on signing a protocol on bargaining for the secondary school system, since employees in primary education are already represented by the Union of Croatian Teachers (SHU). However, the offer was refused by the five unions, which referred to the statements of about 26,000 employees in the primary and secondary schooling system which had given them the mandate to represent the whole education system in the bargaining. According to Doresic, the mandate is not determined by "petitions" but by regular union elections. Dissatisfied with the fact that Doresic was the only representative from the Education Ministry to participate in the talks, without notaries or legal and economic experts present, union representatives requested that Doresic be excluded from future negotiations. We are asking for a person competent enough to discuss the financial situation in the education system, union leaders said. (hina) mm rml