ZAGREB, May 1, 2022 – The SSSH trade union federation celebrated International Workers’ Day in Zagreb on Sunday with a protest march through the streets of the city and a rally in front of the Croatian Employers’ Association, where it stressed the need for wage increases and collective bargaining.

The march was held under the slogan “For a Croatia of happy workers”, with participants demanding “normal working hours”, “higher wages” and “permanent contracts”.

The central demands and messages of the trade unions were higher wages and more collective agreements, in particular branch collective agreements in the private sector, which employs almost a million people, and more effective monitoring of their application.

Living standards and the real value of wages are threatened by rising prices and inflation, they said, adding that wage increases were the only solution.

They said wage increases could only be achieved by increasing the number of collective agreements in the private sector, adding that only two are in force in Croatia and only one has been extended to all employers.

The blame lies primarily with employers and their associations, most of which refuse collective bargaining, the unions said.

SSSH chief Mladen Novosel said employers and the government should realize that low labor costs are a thing of the past.

“Today’s demonstration is the first warning to employers that there will be more strikes and industrial action than ever before if they refuse to negotiate at sector level,” he added.

Novosel said the government was not doing enough through the labor law and other regulations to encourage sectoral bargaining, let alone ensure proper enforcement of existing sectoral agreements.

He said some Croatian workers still didn’t have the eight-hour workday for which workers shed blood on the streets of Chicago in 1886.

Novosel said that some workers who should not be working today, on vacation, and only Croatian workers are leaving for other EU countries while those of them are not coming to work in Croatia.

As a result, he added, there is a shortage of thousands of workers in tourism and construction “because we are at rock bottom in terms of the cost of labor and the treatment of workers”.

Nosovel reiterated the demand that by 2026 the average salary in Croatia should be at least €1,500 and the minimum salary €750 net.

He also criticized conglomerate Zagreb Holding unions for currying favor with the employer, who he said was firing workers instead of protecting them.

To learn more, be sure to check out our dedicated lifestyle section.