uatucUnion of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia infoN o . 8 N o v / D e c 2 0 0 9 ISSN 1847-2079 Dear readers, In this ISSUE After eighteen months of hard negotiations and consultations the new Labour Code was finally adopted and came into force with the first day of the new year. Despite some improvements, the results are very lim- ited as the Government decided to content with the minimum, even failing to accept well-argued trade union proposals aimed to minimise possibilities of misuse of certain provisions of the law. 2 New Labour Code - only minimal After the turmoil in the Government, and the resignation of the Vice EU standards for Croatian workers Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Labour and Entrepreneurship Mr Damir PolanËec, former Chief Director of the Croatian Employers’ Association Mr –uro PopijaË was appointed new Minister of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship on 19 November. Trade unions did not welcome PopijaË’s appointment, taking the position that portfolio which beside economy also includes labour issues should be given to the person acceptable for both social partners. UATUC renewed its 4 Social Democrat Ivo JosipoviÊ old initiative to dissociate the labour portfolio from economy and form elected new President of Croatia a separate Ministry of Labour, however without success. The opposition Social Democrat Mr Ivo JosipoviÊ has won presiden- tial elections in Croatia by a wide margin, basing his campaign on the programme called “New Justice” and uncompromising fight against corruption, stressing his belief that “citizens of Croatia want to live in a country in which work is rewarded and criminal punished, in the country of social security and equal chances”. “I want European 6 Director of Employers’ Association Croatia, European not only by membership in the EU but also by the appointed new Minister of Economy values we stand for - human rights, rights of national minorities, reli- and Labour gious freedoms, democracy and freedom, workers’ rights and social justice, culture, education and protection of environment. UATUC welcomed his election, as his programme and the values he stands for 10 The Government must not be a are also part of the trade union agenda. In fulfilling such programme, stepmother to workers Ana KneæeviÊ promised him unconditional support of the largest in economy Croatian trade union confederation. The unemployment rate in Croatia reached 16.1% - the highest level of unemployment since April 2007. It is foreseen that unemployment 12 “Crisis in Croatia is the will continue to increase with around 300.000 jobless. consequence of our own These are just some of the issues you can read about in this edition mistakes” of the UATUC INFO. Figure of the month: 16.1% Dijana ©obota unemployment rate Head of UATUC International Department [ uatucinfo ] page 2 New Labour Code Zagreb, 1 January 2010 - With the first day of 2010 new Labour Code entered into force. The law was - only minimal EU adopted by Croatian Parliament on 4 December standards for 2009, after 18 months of consultations and negoti- Croatian workers ations between the social partners. The new Labour Code brings substantial changes for the workers, especially concerning the regulation of working time and leave. Adoption of the new Labour Code was initiated for the purposes of harmonising Croatian labour legislation with the EU standards, although changes in a number of other provisions which were raising discontent of the social partners were planned too. However, long lasting negotia- tions between trade unions and Croatian Employers’ Association (with Government trying to act as medi- ator but generally supporting the employers’ side) produced only very limited results. Consequently, determined to finally close negotia- tion chapter on social policy and employment, Government decided to send the law to parliamen- tary procedure, leaving all issues not related to harmonisation for further discussion. As in all harmonisation issues that remained open at the time Government decided in favour of employers’ side, four out of five trade union confederations, including UATUC, refused sup- port to the new Law. Attempt to organise demonstrations in front of Parliament during its session on 19 November was prevented by police barricades, as Croatian law forbids public gatherings in front of the Parliament and Government buildings. On 4 December Parliament adopted new Labour Code, although without the presence of the social-democrats and other opposition MPs who refused to participate in the voting and left the session. Although provisions of the new law do strengthen the workers’ Croatian Government rights in some aspects, as a result of adopting EU standards, there decided to content are a number of reasons for concern for the trade unions. As EU with the minimum, directives set only minimal standards of workers rights that mem- even failing to accept ber states must respect, it can be said that Croatian Government well-argued trade decided to content with that minimum, even failing to accept well- argued trade union proposals aimed to minimise possibilities of union proposals aimed misuse of certain provisions of the law. to minimise possibili- ties of misuse of cer- The new regulation of the working time is more flexible, which will allow employers to substantially save on salaries. Although maxi- tain provisions of the mum overtime is reduced from ten to eight hours per week, the law regular working time will now be calculated as four month average, [ ] which means that eight overtime hours worked in one week can be counted (and paid) as normal working time if the worker will work eight hours less in some of the other weeks during the four month period. There have been some improvements in regulation of fixed-term contracts, although they will not be sufficient to prevent misuses of this instrument. Since last changes in the labour leg- islation in 2003, more than 80 percent of newly-employed workers work on fixed-term con- tracts, although law defines it as “exemption”, not a rule. Employment on fixed-term contract will now be allowed for a period of three years maximum (which was so far possible to avoid [ uatucinfo ] page 3 by signing consecutive contract for different job positions) and fixed-term workers will be in every other aspect equal to the ones with permanent contracts. However, trade unions con- sider that new provisions will not be enough to stop misuse of this instrument and ensure compliance with the aims of Directive 1999/70/EC as interpreted in the rulings of the European Court of Justice. Other changes include increasing of minimum annual leave from minimum 18 days to 4 weeks, and minimum weekly leave from 24 to 36 consecutive hours, as well as more speci- fied provisions on protection of underage workers, night-shift workers and pregnant and nursing women. The provisions on the European Works’ Councils have also been incorpo- rated in the law, but will come into force on the day of the Croatian accession to the EU. [ uatucinfo ] page 4 Zagreb, 11 January 2010 - Candidate of the opposi- Social Democrat tion Social Democratic Party, Ivo JosipoviÊ, will be the Ivo JosipoviÊ new President of Republic of Croatia for the next five elected new years. JosipoviÊ won 60.3% of the vote in the second round held on 10 January, beating the independent President of candidate and mayor of Zagreb, Milan BandiÊ. Croatia JosipoviÊ, who based his campaign on the programme called “New Justice” and uncompromising fight against corruption, in his speech after announcement of the results stressed his belief that “citizens of Croatia want to live in a country in which work is rewarded and crim- inal punished, in the country of social security and equal chances”. “I want European Croatia, European not only by membership in the EU but also by the val- ues we stand for - human rights, rights of national minorities, religious freedoms, democracy and free- dom, workers’ rights and social justice, culture, educa- tion and protection of environment.” 52-year old university law professor and classical music composer, who has been equally suc- cessful in his both professional careers, will succeed Stjepan MesiÊ, who has in his ten years as President highly contributed to the democratisation of the country, its opening to the world and rebuilding good relations with its neighbours. Although Croatian President has rather limited power in policy making, as the only state offi- cial chosen directly by the citizens he enjoys high moral authority and is publicly considered a corrective to the Government. JosipoviÊ’s predecessor MesiÊ leaves a legacy of his presi- dential style marked by frequent public statements on various political and social issues, although his interventions have sometimes been controversial. Although JosipoviÊ enjoyed indirect MesiÊ’s support and promised to continue building on his legacy, he is expected to develop a new presidential style, more legalist and less controversial than his predecessor. While some mention his lack of charisma and political experience, many analysts think that a “boring, but intellectual and legalist President” is exactly what Croatia needs. Although the presidential campaign has been rather boring in the eyes of the average voters and focused more on issues as personal wealth, financing of the campaign and personal accusations among the candi- Ivo JosipoviÊ: dates than on political programmes, it was marked by few interesting phenomena, most important of them being the role played by the inde- “Citizens of Croatia pendent candidates. want to live in a Candidate of the ruling HDZ Andrija Hebrang came only 3rd with 12 country in which percent of the votes in the first round held on 27 December, as signif- work is rewarded and icant number of his potential votes went to two independent candi- criminal punished, in dates, also HDZ members who were expelled from the party after the country of social announcing their nomination, former Minister of Education Dragan security and equal Primorac and President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce Nadan chances” VidoπeviÊ.