ZAGREB, December 30, 2019 – After 11 years Sunday work is being regulated again, the public broadcaster said on Sunday, adding that the government had announced it would amend the Labour Act in 2020 so that shops worked several Sundays a year.
“We are closest… to the Austrian model,” Economy Minister Darko Horvat told HTV. “We are currently discussing how many Sundays employers could define as working Sundays.”
The amendments could be adopted in the first half of next year, the government has said. The Austrian model means shops could work only several Sundays a year, those in tourist resorts could choose them in summer and the rest in December.
“We have been doing a thorough analysis concerning Sunday work over the past six months, contacting all EU countries,” Horvat said, adding that the analysis revealed that “employers’ Sunday revenues are far lower than what the Croatian public knows.”
He said Austria “is very similar to Croatia and has its tourist season. Their employers are a very active social partner to the government.”
He said a public consultation would be launched soon, to be followed by a proposal to the government, and the number of working Sundays would be “hammered out” with employers, eight to 12 Sundays of their choice.
Horvat said all workers who needed to work on Sundays would be rewarded. He said overtime, weekend, night, Sunday and holiday work was currently paid more and that the State Inspectorate was supposed to improve the oversight of that.
“The fact is that this is also a world view issue and I believe Sunday should be free,” he said, adding that his job as minister of the economy was to make Croatia less dependent on retail and tourism.
Speaking of Sunday work, Labour Minister Josip Aladrović said it was important that “both world view and economic goals are covered (so that) redefining Sunday work doesn’t endanger the economy.”
Zlatica Štulić, president of the Commercial Trade Union of Croatia, said the union supported the initiative to amend the law and regulate Sunday work. “That’s something for which we have been fighting for a long time and we believe it will benefit workers.”
More economy news can be found in the Business section.
