By: Vida Kocjan
“Only fools lower taxes, well, but who will fill the budget!” This is a statement of the year of Evelin Vesenjak, president of the once alternative Tomšič trade union KNSS-Neodvisnost, and today of a trade union completely under the auspices of the “red” Association of Free Trade Unions of Slovenia (ZSSS), led by Lidija Jerkič, the successor of the “red” Dušan Semolič, a member of the Social Democrats (SD).
If Vesenjak’s statement had not been heard, they would not have believed it. She said it at the end of last week, and none of the company of leaders with whom she sat at the press conference distanced themselves from her. That means they agree with her. At the same time, trade unions are announcing protests because the government is lowering income tax without their consent (through lower reliefs), and net wages will be higher. People will call to the street. Because of lower taxes!
The union leaders of ZSSS, Pergam, KS 90, Neodvisnost and – of course – the Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions led by the left wing Branimir Štrukelj, pompously announced last week that they were leaving the Economic and Social Council, “that there is no more social dialogue” and that they no longer want to cooperate with employers and the government, “especially not during Slovenia’s presidency of the EU Council”. They could not express their intention more clearly than the last words. They will inform the European Commission and join other spittoons from Slovenia abroad.
And the reason? The government has sent a package of tax laws to the National Assembly, according to which the tax burden on wages will be reduced in the next four years. Net salaries of employees will finally be higher! For those who receive the average Slovenian salary, it will be more than 100 euros higher, at the annual level they will receive 1250 euros more. Another holiday allowance.
Any normal trade unionist would welcome such a move by the government, as it is in favour of workers and their wages, as State Secretary Vinko Gorenak also wrote. Or, as Matej Lahovnik wrote: “It seems that the government should apologise for looking for a way to reduce the tax burden on working people and pensioners!”
The Slovenian trade union leaders obviously went bananas. It is impossible to write a different comment on this.
Vida Kocjan is a journalist of the magazine Demokracija.