While the strike comes after a 5% cut in the funding of wages in the sector, the time of the rallies is presumably an allusion to PM Janez Janša's doomsday announcement that the time in Slovenia with respect to needed measures is not five to midnight but midnight already.
The head of the committee Janez Posedi told the press that he expected "the great majority of the trade unions to go on strike if not practically all of them".
"The only union I presently know that will definitely not strike is the Fides doctors' union," he added.
He explained that the detailed manner of the strike would be determined next week and that individual activities would be left to strike committees at individual public institutions.
The unions demand among other things that the government engage in talks, treat them as equal social partners and provide guarantees that additional cuts in the funding of wages will not be introduced for this year and for 2014.
Also, the manner in which the cut will be implemented needs to the defined, as this cannot be left to the discretion of individual ministries, because this would mean the end of a homogeneous public sector, Posedi believes.
He repeated that that the 23 January strike would only be the beginning and that industrial action would continue.
Posedi moreover commented on Friday's statement of Justice and Public Administration Minister Senko Pličanič that the cut can be implemented in three ways: by f
reezing performance bonuses, with lay-offs and with demotions.
"I hope that this is not the position of the government, but his personal position, because I doubt that such starting points even allow for a positive conclusion that we wish for," Posedi said.
Source: SloveniaTimes
