The ministry said on Friday that a mutually accepted agreement could be expected given that proceedings for a conciliatory settlement of the dispute between the management and the trade union was under way.
The ministry said that because of the tripartite division of power, the government had no mechanisms and did not want to interfere in the work of the Commercial Court in Zagreb, which is considering the workers' demand.
The ministry recalls that in the last four years the government allocated more than HRK 7 million to Kamensko with the aim of helping the company to improve its competitiveness and ensure the material rights of its employees.
Earlier on Friday, the trade union of workers in the textile, footwear, leather and rubber industries called on the huger-striking women to cease their action as it would not help their cause. The trade union also warns that some individuals are manipulating this situation.
A score of women working for Kamensko on Tuesday resumed the hunger strike they started on Monday, saying that they would strike until they were paid more than five overdue salaries as well as transportation expenses. The protesters said they were supported by another 200 of some 500 Kamensko employees as well as by members of the textile workers' union.
Kamensko director Ante Crlenjak said last Tuesday that he had not received his salary in the last four months either and that he was doing his best to restructure the company, move it to a different location, and make payments to workers and all creditors, including the tax authorities.
The regional coordinator of the national union of workers in the textile, footwear, leather and rubber industries, Zeljko Segina, said on that occasion he believed that given its liabilities, Kamensko's bankruptcy was inevitable.
Today, the trade union also warned about similar problems in other clothes-making factories in Croatia.