The leader of the national union of secondary school teachers, Branimir Mihalinec, said on Tuesday, before the continuation of talks between the government and public sector unions on an annex to the basic collective agreement, that teachers' unions had achieved their goals and were ready to sign the annex.
“We have achieved our goals, our demand was clear – 6.11%, we did not budge an inch and the negotiations were completed with our figures. It took us longer than we had expected, but this is a long-term solution and we have to be very satisfied with the agreement. That is why we came to say that we are ready to sign the annex to the collective agreement on a base wage increase based on the 2+2+2 model,” Mihalinec said.
Asked to comment on objections that the unions did not let education-sector workers vote on the latest government offer and that the job complexity index for non-teaching staff was not increased, Mihalinec said they did not have the time to see the objections.
“People should first see what exactly was negotiated, they must see wage calculations and then say if someone has been betrayed or not. We are very proud of what we have accomplished,” said Mihalinec.
The head of the union of primary school teachers, Sanja Sprem, said that wage increase calculations would be made for all jobs, adding that “everyone will find themselves behind the figure of 6.11 or more.”
Sprem said that she expected schools to start working today in line with the achieved agreement.
Commenting on objections about betrayal, she said that the most important thing was that the goal of a job complexity index increase had been achieved.
Asked who the winner was, the government or the unions, she said that the government had maintained fiscal responsibility but that unions and all striking education-sector employees could not feel as losers because their goal had been accomplished.
A leader of the Independent Union of Research and Higher Education Employees of Croatia, Vilim Ribic, said that the unions’ goal at the beginning of negotiations was a two-digit wage increase over a period of one year, that that goal was achieved and that it provided a basis to sign both agreements, the one defined on Monday and the annex to the basic collective agreement.
Ribic said that nonetheless they were unhappy that the government did not specify how much wages in public services lagged behind wages in other sectors in relation to the pre-crisis period.
As for an integral analysis of job complexity indices, which is what the government announced during the teachers’ strike, Ribic said that at one stage the analysis was used a pretext to avoid meeting the unions’ demands.
“The analysis is necessary and if this government stays in power, it should do it and it is possible it will do it, but I’m absolutely certain that nobody will adopt such a sensitive document in an election year,” said Ribic.
Anica Prasnjak of the Croatian union of nurses said that they were satisfied “the agony” was over and they could continue working, announcing that next year talks would be launched on job complexity indices in the health sector.
Stjepan Topolnjak of the Independent Health and Social Welfare Union, too, said that next year the union would seek talks on job complexity indices as well and that it would not tolerate its members with the lowest job complexity indices having lower indices than workers doing the same job in other sectors.
