By: C. R.
In most administrative units, they have been striking for the third consecutive Wednesday. Their union representatives say that given the course of dialogue with the government side, they have no other options. They are also considering intensifying their activities. In the coming days, there will be discussions at the administrative units on whether to extend the strike to another day of the week in addition to Wednesday.
As emphasised by the president of the Union of State Bodies of Slovenia, Francišek Verk, at a press conference on the third strike Wednesday at the administrative units, the strike is anything but pleasant for the employees, as they do not wish to harm those who need the services of the administrative units. However, as he stated, they have only met with the government side once, where each side presented its position, but “there was no further continuation”.
The government is playing ping pong
“In fact, we are playing some ping pong, non-constructive, and without substance,” added the president of the conference of administrative unit unions and the president of the union of the Ljubljana administrative unit at Tobačna, Dragan Stanković. As he explained, they have put forward two specific proposals, but according to his assessment, the government side does not want to hear about what concerns them and what they are striving for. They include in their documents issues that they have not requested and do not wish to discuss. They rejected the government’s proposal. Now, according to Verk, the government side has requested them with a letter for a counterproposal regarding the government’s proposals, which, as he stated, they cannot accept in any way.
“If the government wanted to properly solve the problem of administrative units, negotiate, or ensure optimal service for the state, they would have reached an agreement a long time ago,” Verk believes. However, he is of the opinion that this is some kind of reality show, which will have to be ended with some sort of reality show in front of the government building, where, according to him, representatives of all state employees, not just administrative unit employees, could gather. As he added, perhaps only in this way will Prime Minister Robert Golob realise “that something is seriously wrong”.
The idea of the mentioned gathering, according to Verk, arose on Tuesday after negotiations for the salary pillar, which includes, among other things, the state administration, the army, and the police. Verk also commented on the government’s statements about 1.3 billion euros, which would be allocated for salary reform and the elimination of salary imbalances in the public sector. As he pointed out, however, no one mentions that these funds will be distributed in a “piecemeal” manner from 2025 to 2030, which means that inflation will “successfully devour” everything.
In addition to Wednesday, will there be a strike another day of the week?
Through the strike, employees at the administrative units are highlighting low salaries and simultaneous heavy workloads due to a large workload of tasks. Among the striking demands are salary increases for all employees at the administrative unit by seven salary grades and the alignment of job titles of employees at administrative units with those at ministries.
The president of the union of workers employed at the Ljubljana Bežigrad Administrative Unit, Slobodan Vuk, emphasised two job postings at the administrative unit, published on the website of the Ministry of Public Administration. In the first case, the salary offered for an administrator with a high school education is 1008 euros gross. In the second case, for a position requiring an examination in administrative procedure and involving the handling of complex administrative procedures at the first level, the salary is proposed to be 1492 euros gross.
According to data provided by the STA from the Ministry of Public Administration, the average gross salary at the administrative units last year was 2119 euros gross, compared to 1973.33 euros gross the year before. As indicated by the data for last December, a total of 2387 employees at the administrative units were distributed from the 16th to the 56th salary grade. The largest number, 427, were in the 31st salary grade, where the basic salary is proposed to be 1492.62 euros gross. 450 employees had a lower basic salary. 879 employees had a basic salary higher than 2000 euros gross.
According to Stanković, employees at 54 out of 58 administrative units are still on strike today, and next Wednesday, they are expected to be joined by employees at another administrative unit. As announced, the strike will continue every Wednesday until an appropriate strike agreement is reached. Today, representatives of the administrative units are also deciding on the possibility of further escalation by having another day of strike in addition to Wednesday.
Stanković explained to STA this afternoon that, in accordance with the decision of the union representatives of the striking administrative units, employees at each of these units will express their views in the coming days on whether they are in favour of an additional strike day, considering the possibility of striking on Monday or Friday in addition to Wednesday. They will also decide whether to participate in a protest rally organised in Ljubljana by employees of the administrative units.