The two unions said they would end the strike if the management agreed to four conditions - apply the old collective agreement, the term of which expired in March, during the collective bargaining, ensure the legal prerequisites for continuation of industrial action, scrap a decision to fire 42 cabin crew staff who were on sick leave on May 1-2, and that management not bring into question the legality of this strike or bring the strikers into an unfavourable position.
Pilot union vice president Tomislav Gradisar said if management agreed to the conditions, this would cost the airline HRK 20,000 daily. He said the damage caused by the strike already exceeded HRK 1 million.
Management said they could not agree to the application of the old collective agreement or the retaining of the right to continue with the strike.
Board Member Zlatko Sirac told the press the employer was willing not to fire the flight attendants who were on sick leave and to refrain from examining the legality of the strike, but that it would not pay the strikers for the time spent on strike.
He said that retaining the right to continue with the strike meant the two unions did not want to negotiate in good faith, and that the old collective agreement could not be applied since negotiations were under way on the new one, which had been signed by four other CA unions.
Pilots and flight attendants claim the restructuring envisaged by the new collective agreement would cost them HRK 10 million and other CA staff only HRK 1 million.
A representative for the flight attendant union, Ivana Lojo, said she was disappointed by the positions of Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and Transport Minister Sinisa Hajdas Doncic.
Management estimates that CA will lose about HRK 1.2 million today because of the strike and disruptions in air transport.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.5)