Zagreb County Court on Monday delivered a decision pending appeal banning the strike of ambulance crews in the capital city of Zagreb while the union of the strikers will decide later in the afternoon whether it will continue with its industrial action until their demands are met or until a Supreme Court verdict is delivered.

The ambulance drivers’ union called the strike on Feb 5 demanding a wage increase with union leaders saying that if the court were to ban the strike that it would appeal to the Supreme Court.

The union has eight days to lodge its appeal and the Supreme Court has to deliver its decision within five days.

Union leader Misel Majetic told Hina that further legal steps would be taken in response to the county court’s ban.

“The strike’s further developments will be known this afternoon when the union’s leaders will decide whether they will continue to strike until a Supreme Court decision is delivered,” Majetic said.

Last Monday the union announced that ambulance crews in Zagreb would go on strike to demand a pay rise so that their monthly wages are equated with those of drivers of emergency medical service vehicles, which would require an additional two million kuna (€270,000) annually.

The union is demanding that the government adopts a regulation to define job titles and job complexity indices so that ambulance drivers be reinstated with their original index which was reduced when the ambulance service was divested from the emergency medical service in 2011.

Zagreb’s ambulance drivers expect that they will be supported by their colleagues throughout Croatia in the next few days.

Shop steward for Karlovac ambulance drivers Tomislav Cerovac announced that a strike of solidarity would be held in Karlovac, Bjelovar, Knin and Sibenik as a show of support with drivers working at a slower pace for a few hours each day.

The head of the Zagreb’s Department of Emergency Medical Services, Zarko Rasic, said that things were operating normally despite drivers being on strike for the sixth day with support from the ZET city transport drivers and from other health institutions.

Rasic added that the department was ready to organise additional teams over the next two weeks until the Supreme Court delivers its decision and that citizens will not feel the strike.