RAILWAYMEN ANNOUNCE STRIKE FOR THURSDAY MORNING

ZAGREB, Nov 27 (Hina) - At least thirteen thousand railway employees will go on strike at 10 a.m. tomorrow, president of the Railway Workers' Union, Zlatko Pavletic, said on Wednesday. The railwaymen demand that the management sign a collective agreement and comply with an internal rulebook on wages and bonuses. Pavletic compiled a long laundry list of the management's misdeeds, including the failure to sign a Collective Agreement, to implement a Government's rehabilitation program and to pass adequate security measures. Even after seven months of intensive labour-management negotiations, the situation did not improve, Pavletic said. The operative transport unit was seriously understaffed, so that employees had to put in over 60,000 overtime hours in September, Pavletic said. "The management have suspended hiring - but we are lacking 719 men in the operative transport unit," he said. Meanwhile, a last-ditch round of labour-management negotiations have been scheduled for this afternoon. Pavletic announced that the Union would be prepared to call off the strike if an agreement was reached today. (hina) as 271804 MET nov 96