ZAGREB, 21 April 2022 - After a two-year break, the SSSH union federation will mark International Workers' Day on 1 May with a protest march and rally in Zagreb to warn about the need for pay rises, better protection of workers' rights, and collective bargaining.

After two years when International Workers' Day could not be observed due to COVID, the conditions now exist for doing it in a safe and appropriate way, with a protest, Dijana Šobota of the SSSH told the press on Thursday.

€750 minimum wage goal by 2026

SSSH president Mladen Novosel said the unions' goal was for the average pay to be at least €1,500 and minimum wage €750 by 2026. He is confident the goal will be achieved through collective agreements, which, he said, some employers continue to refuse.

The protest rally will be the first warning that we will do everything in the coming period to have a clear system and pace of collective bargaining in the private sector as well as maximum coverage of workers with collective agreements, he said.

We demand that the government, as the employer, raise wages in the public sector in line with GDP and inflation growth, and that, as the legislator, it encourages collective bargaining and reduces currying favor with employers, he added.

Novosel said that despite the government's measures, the cost of living had additionally increased due to the war in Ukraine and that he hoped the government would agree to public sector unions' pay rise demands.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 9 Sept 2021 - The Union of Platform Workers (SRDP), the first trade union of that kind in Croatia, has been established as part of the SSSH trade union federation in response to the unenviable status of those workers and the restriction of their rights, the SSSH said on Thursday.

The SRDP was established in June, after which it was registered with the Labour, Pension System, Family, and Social Policy Ministry.

SRDP leader Mile Krivokuća said that self-employed platform workers do not have, among other things, the right to paid sick leave or holiday, they do not have a determined minimum price of labor or insurance against occupational injury or other labor-related rights.

The fact that according to Eurofund, 10.7% of Croatians have worked via digital platforms and that platform work is increasingly the only source of income for workers makes this topic important, notably in the context of amendments to the Labour Act which are aimed at regulating this issue, the union said, noting that it would fight for dignified working conditions and better entitlements for those who work in that fast-growing sector.

Platform work in Croatia is not regulated by law

"Almost eight years after the arrival of digital platforms in Croatia, platform work is still not legally regulated, which results in frequent irregularities and violation of platform workers' rights, which are not penalized," union secretary-general Iva Filipović said, warning that there was a large number of cases where platform workers were not paid their salary or their employers did not pay wage contributions or cases of undeclared work.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.