President of the Independent Croatian Trade Union Kresimir Sever on Monday said that employers are opposed to workers staying in the workforce longer and want 65 to be the age when worklife ends.

Dissenting opinions have appeared, with the unions and government on one side, and employers on the other. Employers want the retirement age to remain at 65 and for them to be able to negotiate with employees who wish to work longer, Sever said after a meeting between representatives of the unions and employers with the government regarding amendments to labour legislation which currently defines the retirement age at 65.

Employers want room to get rid of workers when they wish so that they can attract pension recipients to earn extra money when working. Currently more than 14,000 pensioners are still working that way. Employers are not in favour of enabling workers to decide whether they wish to remain longer in full-time work with all rights regarding labour relations, Sever said.

There have still not been any calculations made regarding how much amendments would cost in the event he pension insurance allows full retirement at the age of 65.

“It is still not possible at the moment to conduct a due diligence analysis of the impact of the regulations however I think that there is no need for anyone to say anymore that that will cost HRK 45 billion which is what the government was saying just to intimidate the people,” Sever added.

He said that the government had on several occasions acted in favour of employers and now the labour-pension legislation is moving toward some sort of balance.

When observed overall, however, there is still a lot that goes in favour of employers such as various non-taxable contributions and other things they were offered in the preceding period and now it is necessary to do a lot more in favour of employees so that a balance can be established, said Sever.

During the meeting on Monday morning amendments for six labour-pension laws were discussed.