Labour Minister Mirando Mrsic on Tuesday refuted an article in Vecernji List daily which said that the government had agreed on a linear reduction of the basic wage rates in the public sector.
Mrsic told the press no such meeting was held at the government and that "the government isn't thinking about this option at the moment."
He said that now that the basic collective agreement was signed, the government had to negotiate on branch collective agreements and the entitlements therein. "We want matters to be solved through negotiations on branch collective agreements, by agreement and talks."
Asked if reducing the basic rates would be considered if the negotiations failed, Mrsic said "let's wait for the negotiations," hopeful that cuts in the branch collective agreements would suffice.
Salaries will be paid on time and jobs will be saved, the minister said, hopeful that some social partners "will finally realise that in collective bargaining we have to abide by the frameworks set by the economy and the situation in the state and that we must agree on how to spend the money we have in the best and most rational way."
Asked if he could guarantee that salaries in the public sector would stay the same throughout 2013, Mesic said, "If we manage to maintain the budget and agree on what we have to agree on, I hope so. If not, salaries and jobs and maintaining the budget and the rating and everything else comes into question."
