Union leaders said in Rijeka on Wednesday the drive to collect 10 per cent of signatures of all eligible voters, required to call a referendum against the government's Labour Act amendments, had succeeded, but called on citizens who had not done so yet to sign the petition by midnight because the list with the signatures would be rigorously checked.
"We were sceptical because it was necessary to collect a high number of signatures... The list will be rigorously checked and we want the highest possible number (of signatures) to insure ourselves from unfair actions. There will be a legal battle with parliament but I'm confident that we will win," said Ozren Matijasevic, president of the Croatian Association of Trade Unions and coordinator of the union federations.
The cause of the crisis is not the Labour Act and the collective agreements, but the government's inconsistent policy, he said, adding the unions' goal was a Labour Act custom-made for workers.
Independent Croatian Trade Unions president Kresimir Sever said workers should not bear the brunt of the crisis.
The union federations will announce the official results of the signature-collecting drive on Friday.
