The Slovenian police trade union decided to step up its work-to-rule industrial action which started in October, by performing more detailed checks on two major border crossings with Croatia, causing slowdowns and long queues of cargo trucks waiting to get in or out of Croatia.

The work-to-rule action was introduced on the Obrezje-Bregana and Gruskovje-Macelj road crossings, in a latest protest by employees of Slovenian law enforcement agencies demanding salary raises to be harmonised with other public sector workers.

Police union leaders, Radivoj Urosevic, and Sebastjan Korosec, told Slovenian Pop TV channel on Monday that the current government led by Prime Minister Marjan Sarec said it would back down on a promise given to them earlier this year by the previous cabinet of Miro Cerar.

They said the unless the government makes a better proposal by Monday afternoon, the police union is considering expanding the work-to-rule action to other road crossings on the Slovenia-Croatia border, which is likely to cause even more traffic jams.

Slovenia, a member of the EU’s Schengen passport-free travel area, does not use any checks on its border crossings with fellow Schengen members Italy, Austria, and Hungary.

However, since neighbouring Croatia is a EU member but not yet part of the Schengen area, the Slovenia-Croatia border is the external Schengen border, and the only land border policed by Slovenia’s border and customs services.

The current minority government led by Prime Minister Marjan Sarec, formed in September after an early election, is faced with a series of potential strikes in the public sector, unless it moves to adjust their salaries to erase the effect cuts which were part of austerity measures introduced in 2012 when Slovenia’s export-based economy was hit by a recession.

The unions say that after the recession ended and the nation’s GDP growth posted growth in the last few years, there was no reason not to adjust the salaries of public sector workers like teachers or police officers.

According to government estimates, agreeing to unions’ demands would cost a €970 million increase in budget spending per year, with the government saying it would agree to an increase of only €234 million.

This resulted in several public sector unions announcing strikes, starting from December 5, unless the government offers a new proposal closer to their demands.

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