Following a second round of talks between the government and government employees' unions on an increase in the base pay on Friday, Labour Minister Marin Piletic said the cabinet had made more than a fair offer, while Police Union leader Dubravko Jagic said they did not accept the offer for now.

Piletic told reporters that they would not go public yet with concrete figures, and that talks on the base pay for government employees would continue next Thursday.

“We brought our positions closer and adopted a proposal for the negotiating protocol on an annex to the collective agreement and an increase in the base pay until the end of 2022 and next year,” said Piletic.

He said the government had understanding for union demands, and that its initial offer was the highest in relation to all the previous talks.

The government does not want the talks to last long and start from the beginning, but rather include concrete figures that were presented to the unions today, Piletic said.

“We will discuss everything once again with the prime minister, we are continuing talks on Thursday and I believe that we will reach an agreement as soon as possible so that the annex to the collective agreement could be implemented as soon as possible. That refers also to an increase in the base pay for 2023,” said the minister.

Police Union leader Jagic said that the unions did not accept the government’s offer for the time being and that union bodies and members had to discuss it first, after which talks would continue and they will see what happens.

Jagic said he believes a mutually acceptable compromise is possible and that the government, as the employer, will have sufficient understanding for its employees as well as for police officers.

Speaking to reporters before today’s talks, Jagic said that the unions would not accept an increase in the base pay of less than 8 percent.