Government offers public sector unions pay raise

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that the government is offering public sector and civil service unions a 3% basic wage increase from 1 February, to be paid in March, and a further 3% from 1 September, to be paid in October.

The Prime Minister said the final proposal had largely been agreed between the government and the state and public sector unions, who will consult with their members before giving a response early next week.

“The agreement stipulates that we will receive the feedback by 9am on Tuesday so that the technical aspects of these decisions can be implemented in a government meeting and then the annex to the collective agreement, that is the basic collective agreement, can be signed,” Plenković said.

Another agreement concerns three aspects of material rights: night work, where pay will be increased from 40% to 50%, the anniversary bonus, which will rise from €240 to €300, and the severance payment before retirement, which will be increased from the current two basic salaries to two and a half.

“All these elements have been agreed with the union representatives,” said the Prime Minister.

Today’s negotiations were coordinated by Labour and Pension System, Family and Social Policy Minister Marin Piletić.