ZAGREB, 23 March 2022 - The Coalition for Decent Pay warned on Wednesday that the average pay in Croatia amounted to only two thirds of decent pay, asking the government to adopt policies that would gradually guarantee wages for all workers.
"Decent pay means that we can afford quality living standards, including the payment of regular as well as extraordinary costs and saving," said Coalition member Sandra Kasunić of the Centre for Peace Studies.
According to a calculation by the Coalition for Decent Pay, before the latest price increases, decent pay in Croatia amounted to HRK 10,428, but according to data for 2021, the average wage last year equaled to only two-thirds of that amount.
"The amounts in question show that decent pay for all in Croatia is, for the time being, a distant future," said Kasunić, recalling that decent pay was a constitutional category and basic human right recognised by Croatia.
"Even though the government has shown social sensitivity with its set of measures designed to cushion the impact of rising prices on living standards, the problem is that the package does not cover all workers", she said.
"We call on the government to expand its measures to also include workers who do not earn decent pay, and we demand that it adopt policies that will gradually guarantee the implementation of all social and economic rights," she said.
Mario Iveković of the New Trade Union said that they did not expect minimum pay to be raised to the level of decent pay in two years, but asked the government to make decent pay the ultimate goal of the minimum pay, as stated in the Constitution.
Iveković said the Coalition for Decent Pay would join a European civic initiative, which in two months will start collecting signatures to seek a "strong" social responsiblity directive from the European Commission (EC).
The EC has put forward the first draft of a directive which aims to commit corporations with more than 500 workers and annual revenue of more than €150 million to respect workers' rights.
Even though that limit for some industries, such as the textile industry, is 250 workers and a revenue of €40 million, civic initiatives want it to be lowered so that the directive could apply also to small and medium companies.
"We will insist on the payment of decent pay which is mentioned in the directive," said Iveković.
(€1 = HRK 7.572093)
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