The HUS trade union federation's leader Ozren Matijasevic on Wednesday criticised the Croatian Constitutional Court's ruling on non-existing reasons to hold a referendum on possible amendments to the Labour Act as being contrary to laws and the Constitution.
Matijasevic finds it irrelevant that the government has withdrawn its draft amendments to the ZOR which earlier triggered trade unions' request for a referendum.
The Constitutional Court earlier on Wednesday unanimously ruled that prerequisites for holding the referendum on the Labour Act (ZOR) provisions on collective bargaining had ceased to exist with the government's withdrawal of its draft amendments to the ZOR from the legislative procedure.
Matijasevic said that the Constitution clearly stated that citizens had the right to decide at referendums on all maters from the remit of the Croatian parliament.
The Constitutional Court acted in contravention with the Constitution. Therefore, yesterday, when expecting such a decision, I described the court as "a farcical body making a farcical decision", the union leader said.
He announced a news conference of trade union federations for Thursday when they are expected to inform the public of their further moves.
Trade unions collected more than 710,000 signatures to their initiative to ask for the referendum.
Matijasevic also accused Constitutional Court judges of being appointed to their offices by a political apparatus.
He said that his trade union federation would propose the annulment of the Constitutional Court and the transfer of its powers to the Supreme Court.
The Constitutional Court explains that the committee in charge of the initiative for the referendum tied its formal request for the possible referendum with the proposal for modifying the ZOR, which the government later withdrew from the procedure. Withdrawing its draft amendments, the government respected the will of voters who signed the trade union federations' initiative, the court said.
