After almost two months, the strike of judicial officers and employees in Croatia ended.
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Although half of the union membership rejected the government's offer to end the strike and half accepted it, most of the union branches decided to end the strike.
"Namely, at the moment the membership is divided regarding the offer, we have summarized the results at the strike committee. Of the 47 union branches that have declared themselves, 25 branches have accepted the government's offer," Said Iva Suskovic, president of the Union of State and Local Employees after counting her members' statements on the government's offer.
The strike committee was not unanimous either when it accepted the proposal of the union branches to end the strike, one vote, Suskovic said was against it. The strike, she argued, is in place until the strike committee signs an agreement with the Government to terminate it.
"But we will make that decision at the strike committee in one go and people can already start working from Friday."
Minister of Justice and Public Administration Ivan Malenica said that the deal is already signed.
Suskovic admitted that there was also disapproval from the field for accepting the government's offer, but she thinks that the union showed exceptional solidarity and persistence with this strike and that by accepting the government's offer.
"In our strike, we have achieved almost 50% of our demands," Suskovic said.
Public employees will get 70 to 90 euros and they wanted 400 euros and after that 300 euros.
Officials of major courts in Croatia voted overwhelmingly against accepting the government's offer. The most consistent in the rejection were officials of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb, the largest court in the country, who publicly made it clear on Wednesday that they were dissatisfied with the government's offer and would reject it.
The government sent a written offer to judicial officers and employees on Monday, guaranteeing that if they stopped the strike they would pay a 12 percent on the salary for July.
The government has promised to include them in talks on a regulation that will set the salaries of judicial officers and employees from the beginning of next year in a single payroll system in state and public services.
The government also guaranteed that if the strike were to end it would withdraw its previous decision not to pay for the time spent on the strike. ■