Fundamental rights related to social partners

Participants considered that workers were not legally impeded from enjoying freedom of association and freedom of assembly, in particular the right to join a trade union. However, the extent to which these rights were enjoyed in practice varied along with the size of the company and was particularly complicated in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises, where pressure on unionised workers had been on the rise in recent years. Participants regretted that the Labour Act had limited the right to strike to specific situations and they advocated for the adoption of a general right to strike. Participants believed that the involvement of the social partners in decision-making was all too often merely symbolic. The social partners were included in working groups set up by the authorities for the discussion of draft laws, but this came too late in the process, when comments on a near-final draft law could not have any meaningful impact. They also regretted the fact that the recommendations stemming from the Economic and Social Council (ESC) did not lead to tangible action by the government. They advocated for the resources and expertise of the ESC to be boosted and for the ESC to be given a more prominent role in the decision-making process. The Croatian authorities indicated that, since its establishment as a tripartite body in 2020, the ESC had been involved in every important decision made in the country concerning labour and social affairs, such as the updated Labour Act and the Action Plan on the minimum wage. They added that the social partners had been involved from the planning phase of the ESC's work, as well as in relevant parliamentary committees. Participants explained that the coverage of collective bargaining agreements varied considerably between the public and the private sectors. Some participants regretted the lack of motivation on the part of the social partners when it came to negotiating collective agreements, although it was remarked that the EU Directive on adequate minimum wages had boosted discussions in several sectors. The Croatian authorities indicated their intention to extend the coverage of collective bargaining agreements. They appreciated that the social partners had shown flexibility during the COVID-19 crisis by accepting the temporary suspension of two extended collective bargaining agreements in the areas of construction and health.

The social partners considered that over-regulation came at the expense of collective bargaining. The example was given of the law on the status of physicians, which created a special status for physicians in the public service. Participants felt that such a law overstepped the limits of the role played by representative unions in collective bargaining. Some participants also considered that the state was not setting the right example by refraining from entering into collective bargaining in stateowned enterprises such as banks. Multinational enterprises also tended to be less open to collective bargaining in Croatia than they were in their home country. Participants criticised the lack of proactivity on the part of state authorities in ensuring the proper implementation of labour laws. For example, the law limiting short-term contracts to a maximum of six months was considered as being not properly applied, and the detection of violations was not helped by an understaffed and underpaid labour inspectorate. One participant also explained that the restitution of trade unions' properties previously appropriated by the state had been lagging behind since 1997, despite an agreement on principles being reached in 2020. Overall, participants considered that the Labour Act was too procedural, which meant that labour case-law mostly concerned procedures rather than content, for example concerning the right to strike. The social partners participating in the session expressed a general low level of trust in the judiciary, which they saw as susceptible to outside influence, slow and insufficiently efficient. Examples were given of a decision handed down in 2021 concerning the illegality of a collective agreement dating from 2006 – in the meantime that agreement had been replaced twice, and such a delay made the fulfilment of rights and compensation impossible. Participants also regretted the lack of consistency in labour case-law, resulting from diverging approaches to lawsuits depending on location. Unpredictability resulting from inconsistent case-law and poor implementation of law was presented as a real problem for business. The social partners expressed their concerns with regard to demographic decline in Croatia, which had lost around 400 000 people (a tenth of its population) in a decade. Emigration concerned both the most educated and lower skilled workers and their families, looking for better prospects in other EU Member States. This had not been compensated for by the arrival of foreign workers, despite the abolition of quotas.