The Constitutional Court's ruling which says that there are no prerequisites for calling a referendum on the government-sponsored amendments to the Labour Act is a political scheme which restricts citizens' right to direct democracy, but trade unions are ready to fight for democracy by organising industrial and civil actions, the leaders of five Croatian trade union federations said at a news conference on Thursday.
The Constitutional Court on Wednesday unanimously ruled that prerequisites for holding the referendum on the Labour Act (ZOR) provisions on collective bargaining had ceased to exist with the government's withdrawal of its amendments to the ZOR from the legislative procedure.
The Constitutional Court's decision is proof that the Court is a "tailor shop", and the unions now have a duty to defend democracy because the problem has grown beyond the issue of the Labour Act and collective agreements, said one of the trade union leaders, Vilim Ribic.
In the next seven days, the five trade union federations will decide on measures to be taken, and those measures will range from strikes and protests to a petition calling for an early election. At present, the unions want the parliament to call a referendum on the government-sponsored amendments to the Labour Act despite the Constitutional Court's decision.
Acting in line with decisions made at an all-union convention held at the time when a campaign to collect signatures for a referendum on amendments to the Labour Act was under way, the unions will organise a vote among workers on their readiness to take part in industrial actions.
If most workers support such an initiative, unions will organise a general strike, however, it would not be related only to the issue of referendum, but primarily to the difficult economic situation of workers in Croatia, the union leaders said.
They also expressed bitterness about accusations from Constitutional Court judges that unions were trying to destroy the constitutional order, stressing that the constitutional order was being compromised by those who compromised the credibility of state institutions.
The citizens' trust in the Constitutional Court does not depend on five union federations, Ribic said, adding that by attacking unionists the Court was actually telling citizens that they were stupid.
Staging protests is a constitutional right of citizens who will decide for themselves if they want to demonstrate, union leaders won't make that decision on their behalf, said Ribic.
The leader of the Croatian Trade Union Federation, Ozren Matijasevic, repeated that his union federation would move changing the Constitution and propose a law to abolish the Constitutional Court, which he said had proven to be an instrument of politics.
