TRAIN DISPATCHERS UNION ANNOUNCES STRIKE

( Editorial: --> 1977 ) ZAGREB, June 17 (Hina) - The train dispatchers union Wednesday announced they will join a general strike the Union of Engine Drivers of Croatia set for June 23. The train dispatchers union has been protesting for some time by driving trains 20 minutes behind schedule. According to the vice president of the engineers union, Ivan Tolic, Croatian Railways and the dispatchers union will start reconciliation talks tomorrow. Tolic emphasised the engine drivers union cannot accept a proposal for a new system of determining salaries the Croatian Railways administration put forward at yesterday's meeting of negotiating committees for a collective agreement which was attended by 13 railways unions. The Croatian Railways administration proposal has abolished paying for working Saturdays and reduced the price of working Sundays and on holidays by 10 per cent, Tolic said. The proposal equals the engine drivers' work, the most responsible in Croatian Railways, with the salary of a receptionist, he concluded. (hina) ha as 172024 MET jun 98