Speaking to the press after four hours of talks, Labour and Pension System Minister Mirando Mrsic said that the government could not agree to the unions' demand to increase wage indices for public-service employees once the situation in the country improved.

"The government said that it would be that way once the situation in the country was better, but we don't want to commit ourselves to an agreement which we know will be very hard to implement. That's the main point of dispute," Mrsic said.

The minister said that the government wanted to increase the wage indices through an agreement on improving the financial and legal status of public-service employees, which the unions refused because they did not want the unions that were not in dispute with the government to be involved in the talks.

"The government's position is that we have to stick to the law on trade union representativeness as this law has the effect of collective bargaining, so we want to negotiate with all of them and sign a social pact with them. We also want to regulate grounds for a new law on public-service salaries," Mrsic said.

Mrsic recalled that the wage indices had been reduced for all public-service employees and that therefore the government was recommending signing the agreement with all representative unions regardless of whether they had announced the strike or not. He expressed hope that an agreement would be reached on Monday.

Union leader Vilim Ribic said that the unions were seeking precise terms under which the 3% wage cut would be abolished once GDP started growing and a pledge from the government that it would not unilaterally cut wages any more. "We have not been given precise terms, but only promises, and they are such that they can't be trusted," he said.