News

Three trade unions represented in the Croatian telecom operator Hrvatski Telekom, among them UNI Europa affiliate HST (Croatian Trade Union of Telecommunications), have announced a strike in order to protect the economic and social interests of the workers at Hrvatski Telekom.

On 24 January, HT workers all over Croatia will join the unions in a strike and there will be public protest at different locations in Zagreb.

Among the reasons for the strike are

- The company’s refusal to engage in social dialogue and negotiations with trade unions regarding work places optimization, the number of employees per work place, and regarding the rights of the workers which will be cared for inside or outside HT;

- Lay-off of 450 employees of HT, in spite of gross profit of HRK 3,7 billion (500 million €) and profit margin of 45%, justifying that by „market“ reasons;

- Lay-off of 40 workers from the IT field team and announced transfer of their jobs to the related company Combis LTD;

- Lay-off of accounting workers because of an announced possible transfer of their jobs to Slovakia, within the Deutsche Telekom group;

- Lay-off of shop assistants, closing down of shops and the introduction of split shifts in the sales department;

- Filling permanent jobs within Hvratski Telekom with students instead of employing workers with permanent labor contracts.



The trade unions are announcing a strike and calling the employer to conciliation. The trade unions request the company

- To suspend the announced lay-offs of the workers as long as the lay-off agreement for 2012 between the social partners is not signed;

- To withdraw from the announced transfer of IT Field Team jobs to Combis LTD;

- To stop of dismissals of HT workers and of outsourcing their jobs to external contractors and partners;

- To stop the lay-off of HT workers because of the transfer of accounting services to the Deutsche Telecom subsidiary company in Slovakia;

- To increase investment in the telecommunication network which will provide jobs to the workers and better services to the customers;

- To replace temporary contracts by permanent labour (employment) contracts;

- To hire workers with permanent employment contracts instead of students.





UNI Europa supports the HST workers in their fight and encourages its affiliate organizations to support the strike as well.