20 July, 2010During a two week campaign, Croatian labour unions collected over 800,000 signatures for a referendum on labour law amendments due to the governments' unilateral proposal for changes in the Labour Code which would allow for easier cancellation of collective agreements.
CROATIA: Unions in Croatia submitted over 800,000 signatures to the Speaker of the Parliament on July 14 in a petition calling for a referendum on labour law amendments.
In late May the Croatian Government proposed changes to the Labour Code, which was recently amended and harmonized to European Union standards. The changes in the latest proposed amendments would make it easier for employers to cancel collective agreements.
The Government's proposal has faced strong resistance of all five trade union confederations in Croatia, which have jointly organized a petition for a referendum on the amendments. With 813,016 signatures gathered, the petition has by far surpassed the legal requirement of 10 per cent of registered voters to initiate the referendum.
Before deciding to submit the signatures to Parliament, Croatian trade unions sent a letter to the Government asking it accept the collected signatures as proof of a successfully carried out referendum and withdraw the proposed amendments to the labour legislation and include social partners in any future plans to make amendments.
As the Government did not respond to the trade union proposal, the signatures were submitted to Parliament Speaker, Luka Bebić on July 14, 2010. It is expected that the verification of signatures will take at least one month.