GOVT & UNIONS SIGN MATERIAL RIGHTS AGREEMENT FOR PUBLIC SERVANTS

( Editorial: --> 3757 ) ZAGREB, June 25 (Hina) - Representatives of the Croatian Government and several public service unions on Thursday signed an agreement guaranteeing the payment of anniversary awards, life insurance, children's gifts and Christmas bonuses for about 30,000 public servants. School unions were not invited to the signing of the Agreement on the Material Rights of Public Service Employees. This is because they are not adhering to a wages agreement which outlines how much incomes will rise this year and which guarantees social peace, Deputy Prime Minister Ljerka Mintas-Hodak said. She said the Government was prepared to offer school unions a material rights agreement under the condition they respected the wages agreement and ended their strike. The payment of anniversary awards, life insurance, children's gifts and Christmas bonuses was outlined under collective agreements, but funds were unavailable for this when the 1998 budget was accepted. Now the budget revision has guaranteed a total of US$95 million for these rights to be fulfilled, Mintas-Hodak said. She added that this would also apply to education workers, if they accepted the agreement. (Hina) mbr jn 252257 MET jun 98