SCHOOL UNIONS ANNOUNCE NEW PROTEST OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT

( Editorial: --> 3399 ) ZAGREB, June 24 (Hina) - School union leaders on Wednesday called on parents and students to join them in a protest outside the Croatian National Parliament tomorrow, as a sign of support for MPs backing a resolution to the problems of education workers. Parliament is to consider a revision of the state budget. According to the school unions, debates on a proposal by the parliamentary Education Committee to give teachers an education supplement show that politicians from the governing Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) are divided into "the reasonable and the unreasonable". Unions said the reasonable were trying to resolve the collective work dispute in education through pay increases in the form of an education supplement, while the unreasonable continued to gruffly attack unions and committed "political violence against the primary and secondary school system". It can be seen from yesterday's debate by parliament's Finance and Budget Committee that the revised budget still has 580 million kuna (about US$95 million) unaccounted for, union leader Vesna Kanizaj told reporters. She added that the budget revision would also resolve the problem of pay increases for railway workers. In its efforts to turn the public against education unions, the Government today organised a meeting with the signatories to the wage agreement. Through "false fascinating numbers" the Government will try to show that public service wages this year have risen by more than 30 per cent, said Vinko Filipovic, president of the "Preporod" ("Revival") union. "Unfortunately, the Government has found like-minded people among some union leaders, but education unions will not take part in this 'operetta'," Filipovic said, explaining why he would not attend the meeting despite being a signatory to the agreement. (Hina) mbr /rml 241702 MET jun 98