Croatia, Belarus, Armenia

The ETUC has welcomed a decision by the European Council to withdraw trade privileges from Belarus in response to the government's failure to respect trade union rights. In 2004 a commission of inquiry of the International Labour Organisation called on the Belarus government to stop its harassment of trade unions and respect the right to association and assembly but the government has failed to respond. ETUC General Secretary John Monks said that in contrast to its failure to act in the past, “In this case [the European council] has shown it is willing to take concrete action in support of

The SSSH trade union confederation has expressed its concerns about the new salary law covering civil servants. The law will abolish bonuses based solely on years of service and introduce new performance-related additions. The SSSH is worried that the performance-related elements of pay will be too subjective and allow heads of departments too much discretion over pay. The confederation is particularly concerned about the impact of women on maternity and/or sick leave who might miss out on being evaluated if they fail to meet the minimum requirement of six months’ work in a particular year.

The government unilaterally cut salaries for public servants by amending the law that regulates basic pay in the sector, even though pay normally is subject to collective bargaining. The main public service unions have rejected the pay cut and also criticise the government for its unilateral action which, the unions argues, contravenes International Labour Organisation Convention 98 that guarantees the right to collective bargaining. The strikes were planned for 13 and 14 in the week leading up to local government elections across the country. Education workers were due to begin the strike on

Public sector unions called off strikes planned for 13 and 14 May and a national demonstration planned for 16 May. The unions secured an agreement on pay for 60,000 civil servants that will now be voted on by union members. If members reject the agreement then the unions will return to the negotiating table with the government. Civil servants’ pay will be increased in line with inflation from 1 January 2010 and they will also get a 6% increase once the economy has registered two consecutive quarters of growth. [Read more at > SSSH (HR)->http://www.sssh.hr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view

The Croatian government has increased VAT from 20% to 23% and introduced an additional 3% income tax on wages and pensions as part of its response to the current crisis. The SSSH trade union confederation attacked the proposals arguing that it would lead to a cut in consumption and so undermine economic growth. The 3% tax increase was supposed to be implemented on monthly salaries above 3000 kuna (€400) but there was further union anger when the finance minister suggested that the tax increase should be applied to all salaries. [Read more at > SSSH (EN)->http://www.sssh.hr/en/index.php?option

EPSU has written to the Croatian government expressing its concern about new legislation on determining pay in local government. EPSU’s local government affiliate, the Trade Union of State and Local Government Employees of Croatia, argues that the new law will undermine its right to negotiate pay for its members and that the government has failed to consult properly over the legislation.

EPSU has written to the President, Prime Minister and Minister for Public Administration in Croatia to protest at proposed changes to pay determination in local government. EPSU’s letter condemns the government for failing to consult with unions over the proposed changes and for planning to implement a form of pay determination that undermines the unions’ right to collective bargaining. EPSU’s letter was reported on the website of Vercernji, one of the main daily newspapers. [Read more at > Vercernji (HR)->http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/sindikalci-eu-mesica-premijerke-traze-objasnjenje-clanak

The union movement has been successful in reaching the required target of signatures to demand a referendum on changes to the Labour Code proposed by the government. The government had initially aimed to implement the changes without going through a proper process of negotiation and this would have lead to an undermining of collective agreements. The unions are now in a position where they can try to get the government around the negotiating table or insist on their right to proceed with the referendum. [Read more at > SETimes news website (EN)->http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en

Public sector unions have called off a series of actions next month that could have lead to a general strike on 10 December. The unions were demanding a referendum on trade union and employment rights but have now got the agreement from the government that a referendum will be held that would reduce the threshold of signatures required to call a referendum from 450,000 to 200,000. This will be on the same day as the referendum on joining the European Union. [Read more at > Bloomberg news website (EN)->http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-24/croatia-general-strike-canceled-on-referendum-accord

The International Trade Union Confederation is focusing its trade union rights campaigning on what it terms “countries at risk” where the situation is particularly urgent. In Europe the three countries in this category are Georgia, Turkey and Belarus where the ITUC finds there to be serious infringements of trade union rights including intimidation and arrest of trade union activists, denial of or restrictions on the rights to organise, to strike and to be recognised for collective bargaining. The ITUC carries out an annual survey on the violation of trade union rights across the world and

The government is in the process of implementing €260 million of cuts that will hit public sector jobs as well as certain wage benefits, overtime and expenses. The government is also laying off around 5000 workers on temporary contracts. Unions have been involved in negotiations over the cuts package are arguing that the government has to analyse where to reduce employee numbers and not implement random cuts. [Read more at > SETimes news website (EN)->http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2012/03/06/feature-03] [And at > Balkan Insight news website (EN)->