Croatian Labour and Pension System Minister Josip Aladrovic said on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached with public sector unions on an annex to the basic collective agreement and on holiday allowances being paid into citizens' accounts rather than through the Cro Card.
“We have reached an agreement with public sector employees, they accepted the earlier offer by a majority. We have taken the position that we will pay the HRK 1,500 holiday allowance as we have so far – into citizens’ accounts,” Minister Aladrovic said after a meeting with public and government sector trade unions.
He underscored that government negotiators had been under the impression that union members were not pleased enough with the Cro Card idea and that they would continue negotiations with government employees on Friday, adding that he believed the talks would have a positive outcome.
Asked if it was a success when six out of eleven trade unions rejected the government’s offer, Aladrovic said it was a compromise.
“I am glad we have reached an agreement. The rejections, these are things that are resolved within and between trade unions, and I, as part of the government, would not wish to interfere in their relations,” Aladrovic said.
He stressed that paying holiday bonuses directly into citizens’ accounts had the same financial scope as payments through the Cro Card.
“Whether it goes to the Cro Card or is paid into users’ account makes no difference to us. We wanted to achieve an indirect effect on the economy, but we believe that everything we pay out as the holiday allowance will still end up in the domestic economy,” Aladrovic said.
He added that the cost of holiday allowances amounted to about HRK 300 million.
Health sector unions underscored as an issue the non-payment of overtime pay, and the minister said they had defined this three to four weeks ago.
“That problem has been partially solved, there is the problem of the past, but that is in the domain of court proceedings, and I would not comment on it further,” Aladrovic said.
