TUCJ: WITHOUT STRONG UNIONS, THERE ARE NO COLLECTIVE AGREEMENTS AND WORKERS’ RIGHTS
It’s time to wake up and organize into stronger unions, without which there can be no collective agreements, no workers’ rights, nor united strength of workers to solidarily defend their hard-won rights against employers, stated the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists on the occasion of International Labor Day.
Every year, we pay tribute to the first labor activists and the sacrifices they made to secure the rights to 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours for culture and education at a time when both adults and children worked daily for 12 to 16 hours for meager wages, reads the statement from TUCJ signed by President Maja Sever.
The murders, arrests, and sacrifices of the first generations of unionists, which continue in some countries to this day, have secured today’s workers with their well-regulated rights – which they have now taken for granted.
The distancing from unions occurred in former socialist countries due to well-regulated workers’ rights, with the former system generally, along with unions, being labeled as the specter of “non-people regimes,” it is stated.
The stigma and fear of consequences have deterred many workers in transitional countries from joining unions, which has been welcomed by employers, claims TUCJ, noting that similar situations exist in Croatia.
Economic and financial crises, the coronavirus pandemic, and the aggression on Ukraine have shaken economies across Europe and the world, along with the latest technological revolution, which negatively affects the position of workers, emphasizes TUCJ. They explain how “working conditions are noticeably deteriorating, job security is rapidly disappearing, insecure forms of work of all kinds are spreading like wildfire, inflation significantly reduces wages, and the working hours of many workers are rapidly increasing.”
“Will we squander all the progress made in the last 137 years with our passivity?” asks TUCJ, referring to the round-the-clock availability of workers, even on weekends and holidays, which has occurred due to the new technological revolution.
They cite the example of eight EU countries that, thanks to strong unions, have secured the right to be unavailable to the employer after working hours.
With strong unions, we too will one day be able to turn off our phones at the end of the workday, and in case of a call, the employer will see a generic message saying ‘Dear, my working hours are over. I will get back to you tomorrow morning,’ concludes the Trade Union of Croatian Journalists (TUCJ).
Source: TUCJ and Hina