Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic and the unions in the Zagreb Holding multiutility conglomerate and ZET transport company reached an agreement on salaries on Tuesday, thus fending off a threat of strike action in the capital city.

The agreement envisages a base wage increase of 5% from 1 January and an additional 3% from 1 July, and a new three-year Collective Agreement is supposed to be signed next week.

On the last day of the conciliation process, Mayor Tomasevic and the management at Holding and ZET reached an agreement with the unions, so there will not be any strike in Zagreb.

“The base wage in both companies is going up by five percent from 1 January and an additional three percent from 1 July. The model is similar to the six plus two model, which is similar to the one that the state negotiated with public service unions,” Tomasevic told a press conference.

The signing of the new Collective Agreement will take place next week, and jobs in the Holding and ZET companies will be systematised by the end of February. The unions’ remaining six demands will also be discussed with workers in the Cistoca waste management company, in addition to the five demands that were accepted when they ended their spontaneous strike last Thursday..

It is a large package for Holding and ZET, which is justified considering inflation, and the shortage of workers is also a problem, which is a problem of the entire labour market in Croatia, Tomasevic noted.

The money to cover the wage increases will be secured from three sources – internal savings in the Zagreb Holding, the city budget and through an increase of the price of some services, which the city authorities will agree on with its coalition partner SDP, Tomasevic announced.