Zagreb, October 26, 2006
att. Swedish Trade Union of Journalists
Dear Colleagues,
By this the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ) informs you of the recent situation in the weekly magazine Business.hr, started by the Swedish media company Bonnierabouta year ago in Zagreb, Croatia.
After one year in business, theBusiness.hr Managementdecided to reduce staff in order to reduce costs of the project which missed its main goal i.e. to start a daily business paper, not only weekly magazineand on-line daily edition..
Business.hr had several options to solve the problem. In order to save jobs, management could either solidarily decrease all the salaries (the top ones too), decrease some other not indispensable costs, decrease number of pages etc. But, management and editor in chief decided to get rid of a number of staff members, including one of TUCJ shop stewards, and without defined criteria. Also, in the notice letter the Management falsely stated that the TUCJ Chapel approved the lay-offs. Later, this false statement was withdrawn.
According to Croatian labor legislation, normal procedure in case of redundancy implies lay-off with notice period. In such a manner worker keeps possibility to sue employer for unfounded lay-off. But, Business.hr management put pressure on the workers to sign consensual notice in which case they lose their right to sue the employer. TUCJ advised all the workers in question not to sign consensual notice.In case they consider it, then they should negotiate substantial severance pay.
We know that market economy is not sentimentaland that labor market could be risky. But, in spite of some bad experience with foreign media companies, Croatian journalists greeted Swedish media employers with great confidence, believing that the Swedes would respect Croatian workers and their labor rights better than Austrian or German media owners.
Attracted by promises of bright future in a Swedish brand business paper, a number of journalists and other media staff left their long-term jobs in other media companies and flocked to work for Bonnier– attracted not only by acceptable labor contracts andsalaries but also by editors' promises of pink future for both the magazine and the staff.
They all worked with enthusiasm and they all terminated successfully six months testing period.Then,only six months later,they are being punished formissed business goals which were someone else's responsibility. Now, they are disappointed and scared facing the threat to become unemployed. TUCJ will undertake all the legal measures to defend workers in question.We still think that the problem could be solved without resorting to socially insensitive measures.
We hope to get some useful advice and solidarity from you. Also, we kindly ask you to inform, the Bonnier Management, if possible too, or to provide us with themanagement contact names and addresses.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Best regards,
Marinka Boljkovac, TUCJ Secretary