- Published: 01.08.2019.
Government needs to take account of financial sustainability, PM tells unions
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday that the government treated all employees in health, educational, police and state administration services equally and needed to ensure the sustainability of the financial system.
He was commenting on failure by health and health insurance workers' unions on Wednesday to reach an agreement on wage increases after three months of talks with Health Minister Milan Kujundzic and their decision to extend the existing collective agreement by October 31.
The unions, which expected to sign the amendments to the collective agreement that would bring about wage hikes, said they were shocked by the outcome of the meeting and threatened a strike.
"It is very important that the entire public understands that what we want is a transparent and clear framework for the government to act through dialogue with our social partners within the Economic and Social Council, taking account of the whole system. Only in that way, by bearing in mind all possible aspects and all departments, can we take decisions that are financially sustainable and realistic," the prime minister said.
"We are ready for dialogue to ensure that it is all financially sustainable, otherwise we can hardly stay within the scope of what we are going to to adopt today as our economic and fiscal policy guidelines," he added.
Text: Hina