The management of the Vecernji List daily, which is owned by the Austrian company Styria, claims that most of the paper's 380 employees - reporters, employees in the marketing and sales departments, and the accompanying services - are not taking part in the strike, but are going about their regular duties and making the paper that will hit the newsstands on Thursday and be of the same quality as before.

Filic, on the other hand, says that Vecernji List has 102 employees and that claims to the contrary are lies since the daily's marketing department is a separate business entity.

"We are satisfied with the turnout, a large number of Vecernji List employees is on strike, including prominent reporters, and Thursday's issue of Vecernji List will not be of the usual quality," Filic said.

He said the union could not say how many employees were taking part in the strike, estimating that their number might exceed 63.

Filic objected that the management had prevented the strikers from remaining at their work places, making them sit in a separate room without a computer or a TV set. He announced that he would sue the employer over such behaviour.

The striking employees were also dissatisfied with security guards having met them at the entrance to the daily's offices today, asking them if they were on strike.

The unionists said the strike would last until the management agreed to sign a new collective agreement for Vecernji List employees or extend the existing one and give up plans to drastically restrict the workers' rights.

The management said that it had offered that the union retain most of the rights from the existing collective agreement regardless of the losses the daily was currently facing, and that the average net salary in Vecernji List, not including managerial salaries, was HRK 9,200.

It also said that by calling on readers not to buy the paper, the union was jeopardising the survival of the families of some 400 people working for Vecernji List or depending indirectly on it.

The management said that the committee in charge of organising the strike and all striking workers were given a room to stay in, making it possible for workers wishing to work to do so in a normal atmosphere and without disturbance.

Workers were being registered at the entrance to the daily's offices only so that it could be seen who was on strike and who was working, the management said, adding that this was in line with the law.

The SSSH trade union federation said today it supported the strike at Vecernji List, instructing its members not to buy the paper for the duration of the strike, and supporting the proposal by the Croatian Journalists' Union that other media companies organise a day-long sit-in on Friday, March 25, as an expression of solidarity with Vecernji List employees.

The national union of workers in the printing and publishing sectors, too, supported the striking Vecernji List workers.

Another trade union federation, which goes by the acronym MHS, said it supported the strike and condemned what it said was a lockout at Vecernji List.

The strikers have decided to strike at their place of work, and rules of conduct during the strike are determined by the organisers of the strike, not the employer, the union said, adding that the lockout at Vecernji List was contrary to the Labour Act.

In order to avoid a situation in which the daily would not be published during the strike, the management has hired around 100 part-time workers as strikebreakers, the MHS said, wondering how it was possible that despite reported fines that the daily's management had to pay, those people still worked there without permanent employment contracts.

President Ivo Josipovic is expected to receive a delegation of the striking workers on Thursday.