CROATIAN PUBLIC SERVICES UNIONS ANNOUNCE PROTEST RALLY, STRIKE

ZAGREB, Nov 22 (Hina) - Croatian public services unions, whose employees receive salaries from the state budget, on Friday announced a protest rally for November 27 when the government was expected to adopt a 1997 budget. The Independent Union of Science and High Education would join a three-hour work stoppage at Zagreb University and research institutions. Unions demanded an increase in the salary base of 58.2 percent in order to achieve 1993 levels when their salaries amounted to 55 percent of average business sector wages. The president of the Independent Union of Science and High Education, Kresimir Rozman, said that it was the government's duty to negotiate the salaries with the unions before proposing a budget, but that it had failed to do so. The unions had so far received only a verbal message that the government was willing to negotiate on November 25, Rozman said, adding that they believed that the negotiations would not take place because they had received no written confirmation. (hina) vm jn 221732 MET nov 96