The Science Union said in a statement on Tuesday that the government had forged its signature on the agreements to abolish salary supplements and called on it to correct the agreements and apologise publicly on the websites of the government and the Ministry of Science and Education.

The statement said the falsification of the Union’s decision not to sign the agreements in question was “scandalous and unacceptable in a democratic country that is a member of the European Union.”

The Union added that unless the government publishes a formal correction of the agreements and an apology, it will conclude that it was a conscientious manipulation and that it will inform all relevant authorities in Croatia and abroad, as well as the media and citizens of Croatia.

On 23 February, the Ministry of Science and Education offered the Croatian Teachers’ Union, the Independent Union of Secondary School Teachers and the Science Union to sign two agreements abolishing a 13.72% salary supplement for employees in the education and science sector and a 6.11% supplement for non-teaching staff, which was won through a strike in 2019.

The Independent Science and Higher Education Union refused to sign the agreements on the grounds that they were not in the interests of employees.

A few days ago, the union learned that the agreements had been published in the Official Gazette on 6 March, with the Science Union as a signatory, the statement said.