The New Union on Wednesday presented a methodology, on which European unionists have been working for six years, to replace a minimum wage with a living wage as an end goal.

New Union secretary-general Tomislav Kis said the Clean Clothes Campaign global union network, which deals with working conditions in the garment industry, was conducting a campaign to ensure a living wage.

Unlike the consumer basket, this methodology is more comprehensive, covering rent, utilities, food, education, clothing, shoes, healthcare, transport, annual leave, and some savings, he said.

The main opponents to such a calculation are employers because they don’t understand that such a wage is not demanded at once, but to be set as a target to be reached slowly, Kis said.

According to a New Union survey, minimum wages in Croatia’s garment industry are below 30% of the amount of a family’s living wage.

New Union leader Mario Ivekovic said unionists from seven EU member states and eight European non-EU states worked on the methodology which would be presented today in 25 countries.

Living wage in Croatia should amount to €1,377

The New Union has calculated that the living wage in Croatia should amount to  €1,377. It said that in the past couple of years the government had made considerable headway in raising the minimum wages, but that its goal was not to achieve a living wage.

“They aim to reach 60% of the average wage, but our average wages are so low that that’s an unacceptable methodology. We wish to impose that the aim should be what the constitution says,” said Ivekovic.

The EU is discussing a minimum wage directive and unions want the living wage methodology to be the target value for minimum wages.