Attempts at conciliation between the Union of State and Local Civil Servants and Employees (SDLSN) and the Justice Ministry have failed, as the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on a €400 salary increase for judiciary employees, and the SDLSN will decide on a strike on Friday.

“Attempts at conciliation have failed and tomorrow we will make a decision on taking strike action,” SDLSN president Iva Suskovic told the Croatian state news agency Hina after a meeting in the Justice Ministry on Thursday.

The government did not accept their request to increase salaries of civil servants and employees working in judicial bodies and the state attorney’s office as it is not inclined to selectively increase salaries in only one part of the civil service sector, she added.

“We welcome a decision on increasing everyone’s salaries, including those in the judiciary, because pressure exerted by all sides is great, however it does not cover what the SDLSN is asking for, which is somewhat higher increase for the lowest ranked in the system who do not receive any salary supplements”, she explained.

The problem of this conciliation procedure is also the fact that the government did not prepare a counter proposal for today’s meeting, although the SDLSN made it clear at the previous meeting that it expects a concrete proposal and amount the government is prepared to give, Suskovic said.

“They did not give us any amount that we could present to our members as an offer from the government. They have  decided to stick to the fact that everyone will receive an increase in an unspecified amount, still unknown to us,  which they will present to all unions on Wednesday,” Suskovic said.

She also stated that they were conditioned to end the conciliation process, to give it up and continue addressing that issue at talks.

“That is an interesting fact. I don’t know why conciliation in terms of mediation bothered the employer. On the contrary, I think that it is quite effective in terms of discussions and outcomes that we need to achieve together,” said Suskovic.

The main SDLSN body, which makes decisions on organising and implementing strike action, is scheduled to convene today, and the Union is obliged to announce strike five days in advance.

A meeting of all trade union commissioners in bodies of judicial authorities and the state attorney’s office is convened for Monday.

Malenica: We are working on a comprehensive solution

After the meeting, Justice Minister Ivan Malenica told the Croatian national broadcaster HRT that this case was not a classic conciliation process, considering that “there is no collective labor dispute and that the SDLSN does not have the power of representation, nor was the subject of conciliation anything that can be part of conciliation.”

“During talks with the trade unions, we emphasised that we are working on a comprehensive solution – a law on wages, however the SDLSN, which represents employees in judicial bodies and part of civil servants, did not accept our proposal on comprehensive talks on increasing salaries,” said the minister.