The approximately 460 workers of the Kraljevica shipyard were signing on Monday agreements on the purchase and transfer of their claims from the shipyard to the state, while the shipyard management was giving them letters of dismissal.
The agreements on the purchase and transfer of the workers' claims were to be signed by the workers and Assistant Economy Minister Tamara Obradovic Mazal on behalf of the government.
The agreements include the payment of severance packages in line with provisions of the collective agreement, and the payment of salaries for April and May and other benefits under the collective agreement, said Nenad Miskulin, leader of the Kraljevica Shipyard Workers' Union.
The workers will receive severance packages in the amount of 6,400 kuna per year of service.
The management will give all workers letters of dismissal and the workers will give up their rights from the dismissal period, said Miskulin.
At a session on May 22, the government decided that the Kraljevica shipyard should file for bankruptcy, and at a session on May 25, it decided to set aside from the state budget 63.7 million kuna for the workers' claims.
The Kraljevica shipyard is the oldest Croatian shipyard and the first one on the eastern Adriatic coast - it was established in 1729 by a decree of the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI.
The shipyard built different types of ships, from wooden to modern commercial and war ships.
In the World War II bombings around 60% of the shipyard's production facilities were destroyed. In the former Yugoslavia, Kraljevica was the first shipyard to build, in 1947, a ship using welding technology.
Since 1946, the shipyard has built 197 ships, vessels and other products.
