The ORCA workers’ union of the state-owned national flag-carrier Croatia Airlines appealed at the Zagreb County Court an injunction banning a strike in the airline, and the court is due to forward the appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Zagreb County Court banned the strike on August 9, finding that ORCA had not negotiated in good faith on a new collective agreement and that it did not wish to resolve the dispute peacefully. The court said the union had abandoned further negotiations after its draft collective agreement was rejected.

One of the primary reasons for the strike was the issue of the government’s appointing a new management, which would make it possible to finally sign a new collective agreement, after the last one had expired in December 2016.

Albin Hotic, attorney to the ORCA union, told Croatian news agency Hina he filed the appeal on Thursday, in which he argued that the Zagreb County Court erred in its conclusion that the union should have yielded in some of its demands. He said he was confident that the Supreme Court, if it complied with law and the Constitution, would overturn the ruling and declare the strike legal.

If the Supreme Court rules in favour of the union, ORCA can once again announce it will take action, said Hotic.

The airline has eight days to respond to the appeal once it has received a copy from the judge presiding over the case, he said.

After that, the County Court would send the case file to the Supreme Court, which then has five days to rule on the appeal.
Hotic said he expected the whole procedure to take two to three weeks.

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