The statement by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric that the public services may not get higher base pay if the education unions refuse the government's offer is "an unacceptable manipulation of facts," the Independent Union of Research and Higher Education Employees (NZS) said in a statement on Thursday.

Claims that the public services may not get higher base pay, following Wednesday’s statement by Finance Minister Zdravko Maric that the Annex to the Basic Collective Agreement cannot be signed without the education unions, are not true, the statement said.

“This is an unacceptable manipulation of facts at a critical moment when people on the ground have to make an important decision,” the NZS warned, recalling that the state administration services had signed the Annex to the Basic Collective Agreement which guarantees the same rights.

“According to the principle of communicating vessels, it will also apply to public service employees. The base wage for state administration employees will increase in 2020 and, by extension, it will also increase for public service employees because work of the same value with the same employer (in this case the state) cannot be paid differently,” the union said.

On Wednesday, Minister Maric said that the other public service unions would not be able to sign the Annex to the Basic Collective Agreement if the striking teachers’ unions turned down the government’s proposal for a pay rise and reiterated that the government was willing to discuss job complexity indices but not now.

“Of the 11 trade unions, seven are in favour of this Basic Collective Agreement. The other four have over 50% of the total voting power. In other words, regardless of the fact that more trade unions are in favour of the Basic Collective Agreement and raising the base wage, we have hit an impasse,” Maric told the Nova TV commercial broadcaster.