Trade unions gathered under the slogans – People before Profits, and Time for Resistance.
Under the motto “People before Profits”, Croatian unions marked the International Workers’ Day at the Maksimir Park in Zagreb. The event was organized by two trade union confederations – the Federation of Independent Unions of Croatia (SSSH) and the Independent Croatian Trade Unions (NHS). Despite the rain, about two thousand people gathered to hear union leaders call for the fight to preserve workers’ rights, reports Jutarnji List on May 1, 2016.
President of the Independent Croatian Trade Unions Krešimir Sever said that the unions have shown that they care about workers, because profits cannot be more important than people and workers who create it. He warned that all the governments in the past made people feel discouraged and depressed. They sent a message to the Prime Minister and the government that their reforms which include an increase in retirement age to 67 will lead to a further exodus of young people from Croatia.
SSSH President Mladen Novosel said that someone should translate to the Prime Minister what an increase by 19 kuna in the price of supplemental health insurance really means. Politicians are dividing us on the left and the right, and we should not allow them that, said Novosel.
About a thousand participants earlier took part in a march through the streets of Zagreb, from the Workers’ House to the Maksimir Park. They carried Croatian flags and union placards.
Another union march took place under the slogans “Capital Attacks”, “Factory to Workers” and “Time for Resistance”. It was organized by several trade unions and civil society organizations who called for a general strike due to endangering of workers’ rights and the epidemic of poverty in Croatia. The march started from the Workers’ House and ended near the premises of the former Kamensko factory.
“It is time for citizens to fight for their rights which belong to them as human beings and workers. Workers’ dignity practically does not exist anymore. We have to do something”, said Dražen Mrkonjić from the Workers’ Front.
