ZAGREB, 30 Aug 2021 - The SSSH union federation warned on Monday that the analysis by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has indicated that Croatia workers, similar to those in Germany, benefit from collective bargaining most when it comes to annual leave.

"The ETUC analysis shows that Croatian and German workers benefit the most from collective bargaining when it comes to the length of annual leave, or the number of additional days of paid leave. In working units where national and branch collective agreements are applied, Croatian and German workers have an average of ten days more annual leave than the legal minimum," the union said in a press release.

The union underlined that workers covered by a collective agreement on average have 24.5 days of annual leave compared to  21.5 days for workers without collective agreements.

Collective agreements only applied in public sector, construction and partially in tourism

SSSH leader Mladen Novosel said the ETUC analysis only covered some sectors such as the public sector, and construction and partially tourism in the private sector.

The unions are intensively working on reviving collective bargaining in other sectors and expect the government to recognise the benefits of collective bargaining for society. 

The ETUC and SSSH called on national governments and EU institutions to ensure all workers benefit from collective bargaining and warned that the number of workers covered by collective bargaining has been falling since 2000.

"The European Parliament will mull over a draft directive this autumn related to the minimum wage which foresees that all member states where workers' coverage with collective bargaining is less than 70%, should prepare a national action plan to help achieve that level of coverage," the press release said.

Deputy ETUC secretary-general Esther Lynch underscores that the EU has to be more resolute and efficient so that all workers can exercise the right of collective bargaining.

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