The coordinator of Croatian trade union federations, Ozren Matijasevic, has said that now that the government has decided to withdraw its labour bill, trade unions expect the parliament to say if a referendum against the bill is necessary or not.
If the parliament decides that the referendum is not necessary because the disputable bill has been withdrawn, we will insist that experts and the Constitutional Court state their position, Matijasevic told Croatian Radio on Sunday.
The union leader went on to say that trade unions, which insist on a decision about the referendum, cannot give up their plans to organise it or do anything that would lead to the cancellation of such plans.
Matijasevic said that unions would insist on adopting a law determining which bills cannot be sent to parliament for consideration without the unions' consent. Apart from bills of amendment to the Labour Act and the Pension Insurance Act, such a law would also state some other legislation that is of particular importance to Croatian citizens, he said.
Matijasevic said that unions also insisted on the adoption of a general collective agreement "so that all workers in Croatia are protected by a collective agreement."
