Zagreb,November 17, 2005
List of 6 open questions in negotiations on the Draft Collective Agreement for Journalists and Media Workers of Croatia
Introduction
Following the conclusions of the 22nd meeting of the negotiating teams held on November 10 2005 –composed of the representatives of theTrade Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ) and the Trade Union in Printing and Publishing Industry of Croatia on the one side, and representatives of the Association of Newspaper Publishers at the Croatian Employers' Association (mostly national media), Croatian Association of Radio and Newspapers (local media), and Croatian Radio-television (state owned transforming into public service)on the other–here is the list of several remaining contentious issues to be considered in the continuation of bargaining on the Draft Collective Agreement for Journalists and Media Workers of Croatia.
Previous list of eight (8) open questions from May 9, 2005 has been reduced to six (6) unresolved questions because the employers’ team has agreed to keep addition/bonus of 0,5 increase of basic salary per year of service, and the TUCJ team agreed to accept employers’ proposal to bring editorial statutes separately in the media and not as an annex to the national collective agreement. It is in line with the Croatian Law on Media.
Remaining 6 Unresolved Issues are:
- Calculated working hours, 40-hour working week distributed in 5 working days
(Article 14 of the trade union proposal; Art.14 of the employers' proposal opens the space for 6 days)
Trade union arguments:
Working week of 40 hours distributed in 5 working days is defined in existing collective agreements on the level of media companies signed in the Republic of Croatiain daily papersVecernji list, Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacija, and in HINA News Agency. Daily paperGlas Slavonije has defined 40-hour working week distributed “in at least 5 working days”, Glas Istre has defined “in general 5 working days, and for journalists 5 working days”, Novi list has “5 or 6 days”, at the Croatian radio-television “5 or 6 days”.
Working time of journalists in Europe defined in collective agreements is as follows:
Germany 36,5 hours weekly/distributed in 5 days; Austria 38 hours/ can be 6 days; Denmark 37 hours/5 days; Norway max. 37,5 hours/5 days; Italy 36 hours/5 days; theNetherlands 36-38 hours/5 days; Great Britain 37,5-40 hours/5 days, etc.
- Status advancement of journalists on the basis of experience
(Article 31 of the trade union proposal; employers' proposal: DELETE)
Trade union arguments
Five-step advancement scale for journalists' profession (other media workers, according to their profession) is needed in order to recognize the experience of the worker gained through working in the profession, in which process. With this experience such workers contribute to the quality improvement of the employer's product. Underestimating this experience, which some members of the employers' bargaining team are demonstrating, disregards the fact that expertise and experience increase the value of workers' contribution to the final product.
TUCJ’s proposal is in line with widely used practice in the media where terminology and levels of journalistic advancement based on working experience has been used for years (junior journalist/collaborator, journalist/collaborator, senior journalist/collaborator etc. The very harmonizing of terminology would be a positive step ahead.
In this case, it is mostly a symbolic recognition of experience, since in financial terms there is mostly no gain outside of the 0.5 percent per year of service, or a symbolic salary increase. And, it is known that the editors, as a rule, engage experienced journalists for serious texts.
- Basic protection of permanent freelance contributors
(Annex I of the trade union proposal; employers' proposal: DELETE)
Trade union arguments
Permanent freelance contributors are economically dependant atypical workers who are working in the offices of the employer day in day out, based on the employers' demand and using its means of work. According to the legislation of the Republic of Croatia, they should in fact have an employment contract, fixed-term or permanent, full time or half time. Unfortunately, some journalists and other media workers work for over 10 years without any pension or health insurance.
Trade union proposal is offering a major compromise, as it is asking that only three necessary rights be protected for these journalists and media workers: right to pension and health insurance, lump sum for annual leave, and sick leave for a determined number of days.
We also point out that the Law on Contributions for Basic Insurance is imposing the obligation to pay contributions for all types of work, atypical included. Excluding author's work from that obligation (achieved through different lobbying of group of authors who have settled pension and health insurance) caused, generally speaking, major damage to journalists, and the employers are using that option even when it is evident that the journalist is working at the premises of the employer, based on its request and using its means of work, as if permanently employed, but without any rights. In such cases, this is economically dependent work, and obligatory contributions should be paid also for journalist/author.
TUCJ proposal is a compromise. Some employers in the media already began adopting this compromise solution,solving in such a manner the problem of this ever growing extremely vulnerable category of workers.
But, many media employers started to force journalists to register themselves as independent entrepreneurs and to register themselves as such in the appropriate Register. In such a manner employers avoid sanctions stemming from disregard of the Labor Law in cases when State Inspectorate determines violations of the Labor Law.
- Collective Agreements at media company level
(Article 9 of the trade union proposal; employers' proposal: DELETE)
Trade union arguments:
There are three levels of collective agreements – national, sectoral and at company level. This practice is well known and recognized by all the democratic EU countries, based on ILO conventions which are above national legislation.
After the eventual signing of the National Collective Agreement, collective agreements at media company level should remain valid (Article 9 of the trade union proposal). From article 9 of the employers' proposal it is clear that there are no more collective agreements at media company level, which points to the fact that the employers' side intends to refrain from these agreements immediately, since it does not mention them as acts that newly accepted workers should be acquainted with.
TUCJ signed 8 collective agreements at media company level covering almost 70 percent of journalists and media workers in Croatia. It would be inappropriate and unacceptable to lower their level of rights due to minority of employers who do notwant to recognize even minimum level of rights for their workers. This minimum level is offered in theDraft collective agreement for journalists and media workers of Croatia, and is based on common denominator of rights in existing collective agreements. Therefore, company level collective agreements should remain implemented, parallel with national collective agreement.
Besides, journalists and media workers in a number of Croatian media - owned by German, Austrian and Finnish media corporations - have significantly lower level of rights than their colleagues in mother countries of these media corporations. In mother countries, these corporations respect collective agreements and significantly better conditions of work and salaries of their workers, but in Croatian media they are trying to avoid their obligation to respect collective agreements and labor legislation. Through these double standards, these media employers are discriminating against Croatian journalists and media workersand are treating Croatian workers as second-rate workers.
- Basic salary
(Article 44 of the trade union proposal; employers' proposal: 4000 HRK gross amount)
Trade union arguments:
The TUCJ believes that the salary proposed by the employers' side, in the gross amount of 4.000,00 HRK (about 550 euro) is too low for the journalist who conducted trainee service, and who, as a rule, must have university degree education. Also, employers’ team does not accept the proposal on advancement of journalists in status based on working experience and but claims that only employer may determine whether someone with 20 years of experience would keep beginner's salary or get an increase.
The argument that small publishers could not stand the burden of higher salaries, does not stand for some of them, since journalists and other employees in a range of these media are paid in different illegal ways. This is determined in numerous inspection supervisions. In many of these companies workers have significantly higher income than the gross amount of 4000 HRK, but this is not easily seen due to illegal double contracts, payment through travel vouchers, alleged freelance reimbursements, and in other grey area manners.
There is no reason not to continue to insist upon introducing legal practice and legal payment of salaries to workers in all these media companies which at present avoid implementing the law, to the damage of workers and the state budget.
Sensitive issue of basic salary in the media should be settled on the basis of agreement. To that effect, additional suggestions and proposals of the employers' bargaining team are welcome, for example on how to practically balance differentiated salary basis for national, regional and local media, etc.
- What is calculated as working time of journalists
(Article 15 of the trade union proposal; employers' proposal: editor or immediate manager this will determine it)
Trade union arguments: ¸
Collective agreements in Vecernji list, Jutarnji list, Slobodna Dalmacijs, Glas Istre, Glas Slavonije and HINA define what is calculated as the working time for journalists in line with TUCJ’s proposal. Some media have extended this definition so they include weekend duty at work to be specially calculated.
On the basis of experience of TUCJ's members, in a number of editorial offices practice to degrade the total work conducted by journalists is obvious. Also, attempts to lower this work
down only to the number of produced lines of text in printed media or number of seconds or minutes of program in broadcasting media are very present. What is disregarded is the fact that these final products of journalistic work require preparation, analysis of the topic, participation in a number of meetings and fact-gatherings, traveling, fact-checking, etc. When all this what a journalist must do and invest in the final product is taken into consideration, it is clear that his/her work cannot be viewed only as a line of text or a minute of broadcasting program, but as a whole of creative work, which requires knowledge and constant learning and fact-checking.
Therefore, it is necessary that Article 15 of the trade union proposal remain in the text of the Collective Agreement.
Noted down on the basis of the minutes from the negotiations, and the discussion at the session of the TUCJ Executive Committee, on April 25, 2005,
Marinka Boljkovac
TUCJ Secretary
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