RAILMEN FAIL TO CARRY OUT TRANSPORT MINISTER'S DECISION DURING STR

STR $ IKE ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The Croatian Railways (HŽ) management, on Thursday said the Croatian Railmen's Union strike committee failed to carry out Transport Minister Zeljko Luzavec's decision on trains that must be in service during a strike. Under the law on railway lines, the Transport Minister decides which trains must be operated during a strike. According to information the HŽ management obtained, only international passenger trains and local border trains were running currently as part of passenger transport. But, passenger trains which have to be in service in the country according to the Minister's decision, were not being operated, the HŽ management said in a statement. The statement noted that trains transporting petroleum products, and freight trains transporting goods for the Croatian Army, IFOR and UN, were running, so that trains carrying U.S. arms for the Bosnian Federation had left the Croatian port town of Ploce this morning for Hadzici (outside Sarajevo). The HŽ management expected that continuous talks could lead to the resolution of all problems, and it hoped that the Railmen's Union would back down and join the collective negotiations that were due to resume the next week, the statement said. At Thursday's talks with the HŽ management and Transport Minister Zeljko Luzavec, only one union (the Railmen's Union), out of nine within the Croatian Railways, confirmed that they would go on strike. A strike committee member, Goran Kovacic, said on Thursday afternoon that the Union had broadened a obligatory trains list with some local trains that would run where no alternative traffic could be organized. Since 10:00 a.m. Thursday when the strike began there have been about 170 passenger trains in service along international and domestic railway lines, according to him. Kovacic added that about 20 percent of passenger traffic and more than 20 percent of freight traffic was running. (hina) jn mš 281752 MET nov 96