The trade union representing employees in the Croatian education system "Preporod" said on Wednesday it would organise a referendum on May 23 and 24 among its 9,000 members in elementary and high schools about their readiness to take part in the announced strike until their demands are met.
A majority of members of public-sector trade unions expressed their support for plans for a general strike, during last week's union referendum on this matter, and industrial actions will be aimed at making the government abandon austerity measures and cutbacks.
There are many reasons for a strike and the most important is salary cuts in the education sector, however, we will accept any decision our members make, union president Zeljko Stipic said.
Stipic also said he had not talked to Education Minister Zeljko Jovanovic for the past nine months, saying that Jovanovic was intentionally ignoring "Preporod" and other education unions.
Jovanovic said yesterday he had discontinued communication with "Preporod" because Stipic had insulted him without elaborating what kind of insult this was.
