The ORCA workers’ union at the state-owned national flag carrier Croatia Airlines (CA) announced on Tuesday it would appeal an injunction banning a strike at the airline at the Constitutional Court, after the Supreme Court on Monday upheld an earlier ruling declaring the strike illegal.

Supreme Court confirmed an August 9 ruling by the Zagreb County Court, which banned the strike in Croatia Airlines saying the unionists had negotiated with the management in bad faith on a new collective agreement.

However, unlike the first instance ruling, the Supreme Court concluded that the legal preconditions to allow the strike go on were not met because legally mandated conciliation procedures with company’s management were not held before the union announced the strike.

ORCA, which represents pilots, cabin crew and mechanics, had rejected the County Court’s conclusions, saying they have met all the procedures and fulfilled all the necessary conditions to ensure the legality of the strike.

ORCA also announced a new round of negotiations with the management over the collective agreement, strictly in line with the legal procedure.

Unless we manage to come to an agreement with the management, we will announce the strike for another time, ORCA’s attorney Albin Hotic told the state news agency Hina.

The Croatia Airlines management had said that fulfilling the union’s demands would cost the company some 53 million kuna (€7.1 million), which is unacceptable and unsustainable for the airline.

The unionists are demanding a new collective agreement, after the last one had expired nearly 20 months ago, as well as an increase in salaries for pilots, and a reduction of overtime hours assigned to employees.

(€1 = 7.42 kuna)

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