President Milanović Extends Congratulations on International Worker’s Day and Tells Unions to Persist in their Fight for Workers’ Rights
The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović attended an event marking International Workers’ Day in the Tvornica Kulture hall organized by the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia in the scope of International Workers’ Day. He extended congratulations to Croatian workers on International Workers’ Day.
Speaking to a gathering of Union members, President Milanović said that in the past thirty years in Croatia they were able to do their trade union work free from all ideological burdens and suspicions. “Many celebrated this date ruthlessly abusing it throughout history. You weren’t associated to any party unlike many western European social democrat parties and fractions that emerged from unions and kept a connection to this day. This is not the case in Croatia, which is good. It makes it easier for you to keep a moral status and a position of reputation in times that are terrible for you. Times are hard!”, President Milanović stated in his address.
The President remarked that dialogue must be fostered in society today, but that we must sometimes be harsh, and referred to the status and rights of trade unions throughout history. “Your status, your rights throughout the history of social democracy in the first years and decades up to the Second World War were achieved not with nice words and labels but with a fight. Today it is no longer so”, President Milanović noted, telling the unions to be persistent in their fight. “How successful you will be – is a matter of things and factors which we cannot influence”, the Croatian President added.
In this sense he said that upon joining the EU, we relinquished our monetary sovereignty, so decisions on the value of the currency are not made by us alone but someone else. He added that we alone have no influence on inflation, especially inflation that raises the cost of food. Inflation on the cost of food and basic necessities of life strikes those who earn the least. Those who earn average or slightly below average represent the highest percentage, and generally spend most of their income on these things. This inflation threatens mostly people who are your members and those you represent”, President Milanović underlined.
He also referred to the import of (foreign) workers and the outflow of our workers saying that in this case we can learn from the experience of other states thereby avoiding their mistakes. “What is happening to us has already happened to them, and the result is not so bad. All those states have grown. Romania has lost three million residents, and currently its per capita income is equal to Croatia’s, yet formerly Romania was synonym for underdevelopment. The same thing is true for the Baltic states. They, as small and the most exposed and vulnerable to fluctuations, have experienced the largest economic downturns and recoveries, they have the highest inflation rates, but people are going there, they are starting to return. They developed economically without people, their growth occurred without people. Slovenia and the Czech Republic, and perhaps Hungary, didn’t have that problem, they are as successful and as static as all those states. Roles have long ago been divided and everyone is going their own way”, President Milanović explained.
To conclude, President Milanović highlighted tourism as an example of where we can be successful and reach a high standard. “It’s industry, the tourism industry. The level of organization, the quality of services and capital utilization in Croatian tourism is on a very high level today”, he noted, and compared Croatian and Greek tourism saying that formerly Greece was a model for Croatia, but now Croatia is better. “Simply, things are working better. This is something that by sheer circumstance became our only real resource. Of course it has its side effects – i.e. nothing is produced or practically nothing else is produced, we are quite dependent on human comfort and human prosperity. The moment this disappears or when it will be called into question, nobody will come anymore and that’s why this is the key question today – situation of peace in the world”, the President stated in concluding his statement.
Also speaking at the event besides President Milanović was the president of the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia Mladen Novosel, the president of the Youth Section of the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia Ana Šer, the president of the Women’s Section of the Union of Autonomous Trade Unions of Croatia Emina Ibrahimi, the vice-president of the Sindikat umirovljenika Hrvatske (Pensioners’ Union of Croatia) Mato Obradović, the general director of the Croatian Employers’ Association Irena Weber, the director of the Directorate-General for Labour and Safety at Work of the Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Dražen Opalić, envoy of the Prime Minister Ivan Vidiš, and Member of the Croatian Parliament and envoy of the Speaker of the Croatian Parliament Majda Burić.
PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta