The physicians' and nurses' unions will launch a conciliation process at the Economic and Social Council because they "want to rescue the negotiations, but if they can't be rescued, they will go on strike," Ivica Babic, president of the Physicians Union, told reporters after a failed round of negotiations at the Health Ministry.

The ministry said in a statement there was no need to break off the negotiations because the entitlements from the collective agreement had not even been addressed. The two unions refused Minister Rajko Ostojic's attempts to negotiate on the content of the agreement, but the government's negotiating team remains open for collective bargaining, it added.

Babic said the government offered the collective agreement it had signed with the Independent Health and Welfare Workers' Union, which he said had caused huge damage to physicians and nurses and contained unlawful provisions.

Nurses object to on-call work, work conditions, and poorly defined shift work.

Independent Health and Welfare Workers 'Union president Spomenka Avbersek said the physicians' and nurses' unions had not wanted to negotiate "because they are not interested in the content but only in some things they lost through the previous collective agreement."

She said the current collective agreement was valid until October 15, after which it can be extended for another three months. She voiced confidence that common ground will be found with the government in the meantime.