ZAGREB, 14 Dec 2021 - Labour Minister Josip Aladrović said on Tuesday that the job keeping measure was intended to remain in place until the end of the year in sectors where it was necessary and that Croatia was now moving to the job creation stage, for which more than a billion kuna has been set aside.

"We have secured some funding for the shortened working hours measure and for the job keeping measure. We hope and expect that these measures will not be intense next year because we are moving to the job creation stage, for which we have secured over a billion kuna," Aladrović said in response to questions from the press on the sidelines of a conference organized by the Livit company under the government's auspices.

Aladrović said that this would be the direction in which the country would be going in 2022. He, however, reiterated that "we will be at the service of workers and employers as long as necessary."

He said that about HRK 40 million was currently being paid out for 12-15,000 workers as part of the job-keeping measure.

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ZAGREB, 16 Sept 2021 - Labour Minister Josip Aladrović informed the parliament on Thursday that despite all the challenges, Croatia had registered roughly 50,000 more pension insurees at the end of August than a year before and also 9,000 more than at the end of August 2019.

Minister Aladrović underscored these figures while presenting the draft amendments to the minimum wage legislation, which were supported by lawmakers.

The draft amendments envisage the stipulation of the gross minimum wage and also fines for employers who pay wages lower than the defined minimum wage.

Commenting on trends in gross minimum monthly payments, the minister noted that at the end of 2013, the gross minimum pay was HRK 2,984 and it rose to HRK 3,120 at the end of 2016,  which meant that during the term of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) government it rose only by 4.5% or by 135 kuna.

During the term of this government, it increased from HRK 3,120 to 4,250 or by HRK 1,130, he said.

The net minimum pay rose from HRK 2,496 to HRK 3,400 or by 904 kuna that is by 36.2%, he stressed and added that this June the average net monthly wage was HRK 7,175.

Aladrović said that the growth in the minimum wage was evident, however, some shortcomings had been spotted and the draft amendments were aimed at correcting them.

Parliamentary deputies welcomed the proposed changes, and some of them warned that there were still some employers who paid only the gross minimum pay, while they gave the difference to a higher earned pay directly to workers or they denied the right of employees to free days.

(€1 = HRK 7.470695)

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ZAGREB, 18 Aug 2021 - Labour Minister Josip Aladrović said on Wednesday that the labor market was stable and had recovered from the corona crisis.

"The data for the first 15 days in August show that we are going in the right direction. We are switching from job preservation to job creation," Aladrović told the press while arriving at a meeting of the inner cabinet.

The minister is hopeful about retaining record high levels in employment since official statistics started to be kept 21 years ago.

In the period to come, the biggest challenge will be finding skilled manpower, said Aladrović who expects a rise in workers' pay.

However, the situation with the corona crisis still requires caution, and some branches of the economy will continue to need grants to keep jobs, according to his explanation.

As for August, we do not have any intensive requests from employers' associations, and a strong rebound can be perceived. A strong tourist season has positively impacted the labor market and businesses, he added.

The minister added that the talks would soon be held with the Croatian Employers' Association and trade unions on who would be eligible for the job retention grants in August.

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ZAGREB, 5 May, 2021 - Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović on Wednesday denied reports that "a union tax" would be introduced, noting that media had wrongly interpreted the social dialogue on the new labour law and that that was just one of the proposals. 

"I must specifically decline the possibility of introducing a so-called union tax in the form that the media tried to depict it," Aladrović told reporters after a meeting of the inner cabinet.

As for speculation that the government could accept the union proposal for the introduction of such a tax, that is, obligatory payment of a union membership fee even for workers who are not union members, Aladrović said that "the media had misinterpreted the social dialogue."

In the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and talks with unions on the new labour law, the government has decided to strengthen and encourage social dialogue and collective bargaining but that does not mean that all proposals are automatically accepted, he said.

"Certain proposals and solutions have been interpreted as if they are going to go into force immediately, but that is only one negotiating possibility, one of the proposal by workers and nothing more," said the minister.

He added that consultations with unions and employers on the new labour legislation were finished, that agreement had been reached on many issues and that soon a task force would be set up to draw up a new law.

No comment on court ruling in case of gay couple's motion for adoption 

Aladrović would not comment on the Zagreb Administrative Court ruling in the case of life partners Mladen Kožić and Ivo Šegota, stressing that it was a non-final ruling.

The Rainbow Families association of LGBTIQ couples and individuals who have or want to have children said earlier in the day that the court had decided that Kožić and Šegota had been discriminated against when in 2016 they were prevented from undergoing the process of evaluation for adoption.

In 2020 the two men were granted the right to provide foster care.

The association's president, Daniel Martinović, said the court ruled that the two men must not be discriminated against because they are life partners.

The ruling, Martinović said, confirms that life partners in Croatia can adopt.

He noted that the ruling was still not final and expressed a wish for the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy not to appeal against it, thus respecting a Constitutional Court ruling of 2020 in which the court concluded that everyone should be enabled to participate in the provision of  foster care under equal terms.

"We saw the ruling this week, we are still analysing its effects and legal possibilities," said Aladrović.

He noted that the HDZ party had expressed its political position on the matter through the Family Act and the Foster Care Act.

"We will act in line with decisions of Croatian courts, but this is only a non-final ruling," said the minister.

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ZAGREB, 21 April, 2021 - Labour and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović said on Wednesday that intensive talks had been underway with all stakeholders in the social welfare system, noting that the system was ready for a reform.

He said that an action plan for a broad reform was being prepared and that it would be presented in the next few days.

However, certain challenges have accumulated in the system for a long period of time so its reform will also take time and require quality engagement of all stakeholders, he said.

The action plan is comprehensive and detailed, the minister said, adding that no group of beneficiaries or employees would be left out.

"We want a solid and implementable document," he said, adding that the reform would focus on the beneficiaries of the social welfare system as well as deal with the problem of a shortage of social workers and excessive workload. 

An analysis has been made on the shortage of staff in all 83 social welfare centres in the country, he said, adding that the hiring of new staff would start soon.

The action plan also aims to facilitate the process of adoption and putting a child in a foster family, he said.

Commenting on a half-an-hour protest of social workers held earlier in the day, Aladrović said that it was their right and that he did not want to question it.

"But what we expect is the continuation of good cooperation with representatives from the entire system of social care," he said, expressing confidence that with joint work and implementation of the action plan the system could be improved to the benefit of its users.

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ZAGREB, 5 April, 2021 - The foster parents' association "Život s osmijehom" (Life with a smile) from Karlovac on Monday called on Labour and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović to hold a meeting with foster parents, stop avoiding them and listen to what they have to say.

The association sent the minister an open letter prompted by the death of a 2.5-year-old girl from Nova Gradiška, who died in a Zagreb hospital on Sunday due to injuries caused by her mother.

Foster parent Marina Novaković Matanić from the Karlovac association said the latest tragedy showed that it was entirely wrong to believe that the worst biological family was better than no family, calling on the minister to do something in cooperation with foster parents' associations to prevent similar tragedies from happening again.

The "Život s osmijehom" association is a member of the umbrella foster care association "Forum za kvalitetno udomiteljstvo" (Forum for Quality Foster Care).

Novaković Matanić said that two weeks ago Forum representatives got an appointment with the minister after trying to meet with him for a year, but when they showed up for the meeting, they were received by a state secretary.

"In the past two and a half years the former minister met with us for 15 minutes while her successor could not spare even 15 minutes," said Novaković Matanić.

Foster families often care for children who come from families with a criminal past, and they have suggestions but nobody in the social protection system hears those suggestions, she said.

Foster parents demand that parents' meetings with children not take place in foster families because "that puts at risk other foster children," she said.

The opinion of foster parents in mandatory reports that are submitted to social welfare centres is disregarded, Novaković Matanić said, adding that the number of foster parents was falling not because of finances but because they had been left to their own devices for years.

She recalled that foster families have a duty to submit a report every six months on the state of the foster child but that when a case ends up in court, those reports and foster parents' opinions are not taken into account.

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ZAGREB, 2 April, 2021 - Two grant agreements worth HRK 6.7 million were handed over in Petrinja on Friday for projects by the local development agency PETRA and the Red Cross office in Sisak.

Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović said that the first agreement was financed with EU funds in the amount of HRK 2.5 million and was intended for the establishment of a centre for social entrepreneurship in Petrinja.

The other grant agreement, worth close to HRK 4.2 million, is intended to help alleviate poverty in the region of Banovina and northern Croatia, through donations of food and/or basic material assistance.

Attending the ceremony at which the grant agreements were handed over were also War Veterans Minister Tomo Medved, who heads the task force dealing with the aftermath of the 29 December earthquake in Sisak-Moslavina County, and local officials.

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ZAGREB, 18 March, 2021 - The government sent its proposal to amend the Volunteering Act to parliament on Thursday, defining the operation of volunteer centres and their funding.

The proposal also defines the concept of corporate volunteering, given that many companies in Croatia have developed a system of volunteering, and the concept of volunteering coordinator, who plays a significant role in efficient management of volunteering programmes in organisations.

The proposal does not allow volunteering for a duration of more than 38 hours a week over a period of more than three months without a break of at least three months, or long-term volunteering that would otherwise constitute a commercial contractual relationship.

The Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy, Josip Aladrović, said that the volunteering sector was developing fast and that the existing law made the implementation of new volunteering initiatives difficult in certain aspects. He said that the proposed amendments would remove the existing obstacles and ambiguities.

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ZAGREB, 12 March, 2021 - Labour Minister Josip Aladrović and deputy director of the National Foundation for Civil Society Development Luka Bogdan presented eight contracts in Zadar on Friday worth nearly HRK 10 million for projects to strengthen the capacities of old and new social enterprises and entrepreneurs.

"Today, we signed contracts with entities that are just starting and that are developing their business in accordance with principles of social entrepreneurship," said Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister Josip Aladrović, noting that the ministry has provided over HRK 112 million to encourage social entrepreneurship.

The pandemic and crisis have created an opportunity for doing some things better and fairer, he said.

I believe that we can find a way in our business to regain a positive social impact. There are four counties among the co-signers: Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia and Lika-Senj counties. All forms of entrepreneurship in these areas are more important than ever before, mostly due to the impact the pandemic has had on the tourism sector and all related activities, Minister Aladrović said, adding that by signing the projects they want to strengthen the capacities of old and new social enterprises through additional employment and education.

Deputy director of the National Foundation for Civil Society Development Luka Bogdan  said that social entrepreneurship was one of the models connecting solidarity and entrepreneurship that could be seen every day, not just in a crisis.

The purpose of the projects is to employ members of vulnerable groups -- women, Croatian war veterans and victims of the Homeland War, people with disabilities and others, and this will include creating new jobs and improving the knowledge and skills of employees through specialised forms of training and employment.

Before presenting the contracts cofinanced by the European Social Fund, Minister Aladrović and his associates had a working meeting with representatives of the City of Zadar on increasing capacities of retirement homes.

According to state secretary Marija Pletikosa, it is estimated that about 5% of the population aged over 65 needs accommodation in a retirement home, and Zadar has not yet reached the capacity to accommodate 3%, so it is necessary to build new retirement homes.

Aladrović said that he supported the idea because increasing the number of accommodation units for the elderly population across Croatia was one the priorities of his ministry.

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ZAGREB, 9 March, 2021 - Labour Minister Josip Aladrović said on Tuesday that negotiations were underway with pensioner unions and associations about COVID supplements for retirees.

"We've had a few operational meetings and that issue is something that cannot be resolved in such a short time however, I am certain that we are on the right track for an agreement regarding a COVID supplement," said Aladrović, when asked by the press whether the talks reached a standstill.

He announced that talks on that issue would continue at the end of this week and in the coming period.

"I am certain that Croatia can become one of the countries that introduces a COVID supplement but we have to be aware on the other hand of the fiscal limits in our budget," he added.

Aladrović added that he would leave all options open,however, he is certain that good will for an agreement exists and that it is possible.

Asked whether the decision was waiting for the local election, Aladrović said that this is a supplement that is unknown in other European countries and that it cannot be brought into the context of current political circumstances and situations.

Last month during a meeting with Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, pensioner associations raised the issue of a COVID supplement and asked for just over 800,000 pensioners with a pension allowance of up to HRK 2,710 to be paid a COVID supplement of €150 (HRK 1,125).

They also proposed that about 244,000 pensioners with pension allowances between HRK 2,710 and HRK 5,000 be given a supplement of €100 (HRK 750) and for 7,200 single pensioners who receive a pension allowance of more than HRK 5,000 to be given a supplement of €50 (HRK 375).

The supplement would, according to their calculations, come to HRK1.93 billion.

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