CROATIAN POLICE OFFICERS FEAR BEING LAID OFF

ZAGREB, March (Hina) - Anxiety and uncertainty are spreading among Croatian police officers because they do not know who of them and why will find oneself on a redundancy list, the head of the Independent Croatian Workers' Unions (NHS), Kresimir Sever, said on Tuesday. The head of the NHS branch for the Interior Ministry, Zdravko Loncar, asked competent officials at the Interior Ministry to provide a detailed plan and programme of providing for surplus work force. The Interior Ministry employs about 23,000 police officers and there are reports that their number will be reduced by as many as 10,000, Loncar said. It is planned that by the end of this year the police force be reduced by 2,000 officers, of whom most will be transferred to other jobs. This way, 750 officers would be transferred to protection services, 150 would be transferred to the mine-removal company 'Mungos', and 100 would become court police officers. However, Loncar wondered what would happen to 950 police officers who only had primary education and who were also to be laid off. Most of those police officers participated in the Homeland War, Loncar said. Loncar accused senior officials at the Interior Ministry of illegally transferring union commissioners and exerting other forms of pressure on the union. He also claimed the collective agreement was not being respected because members of special police forces were not paid for night work. (hina) sb rml