The Zagreb County Court on Friday made a provisional decision rejecting the government's proposal for a temporary ban on a strike by court clerks and it is expected to rule on the matter on Monday, when court employees will go on strike at 7 a.m.

“We have attended the first hearing and presented our arguments… and a decision was passed rejecting the government’s proposal for a temporary strike ban,” the head of the SDLSN union of state and local government employees, Iva Suskovic, said.

The ruling on the legality of the strike will be made at 10 a.m. on Monday.

The union said that it would start the strike at 7 a.m. on Monday, 5 June, and that its further action would depend on the court ruling.

State and local government employees organised on their own today and gathered outside courts at 1 p.m. to express support for the union and to show that they are dissatisfied with the government’s proposal to ban the strike and declare it illegal.

“This is due to the practice so far, an example being the doctors’ union, which launched a strike over financial and social interests, as well as school unions, which were on strike for almost two months seeking an increase in coefficients, and they had a signed collective agreement at the time,” Suskovic said.

She noted that the legality of the strike of school employees was not questioned nor was the question of money raised, with the government saying that it was a friend to teachers and that they would be paid for all days spent on strike.

“Our members wonder why people are being divided into important ones, less important ones and almost irrelevant ones,” she said. The union said that it was satisfied with the court’s decision.

Justice Minister Ivan Malenica said earlier in the day that the State Attorney’s Office (DORH) lodged an application to ban the strike of employees in the judiciary, as it believes that no conditions have been met for that industrial action.

“The main reason is that those are not actors that are authorised to organise a strike and there are no justified reasons for the strike,” said Malenica.