"Never since Slovenia’s secession from Yugoslavia has this country seen such a move by the government. To make matters worse, the government notified the media and the public before they notified us," Štrukelj said after Public Administration Minister Boris Koprivnikar announced on Thursday that the government would suspend the stalled wage negotiations with public sector trade unions.

Koprivnikar said after Thursday’s government session that the government decided that their negotiations with public sector trade unions had reached an impasse, adding that the government would now try to adopt a set of laws on public sector pay.

"Once these systemic laws – including the law on public sector pay and the law on civil servants – are adopted, we will resume negotiations with the unions. Together we will try to determine what needs to be done before we can reach a final agreement," the minister said, adding that the aforementioned laws would serve as a financial framework for further negotiations.

Decision angers trade unions
The Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, one of the negotiating parties, insist that they have an agreement with the government; in 2015, the Confederation and the government agreed that they would try to find a way to phase out the remaining austerity measures. This includes increasing holiday allowances, unfreezing performance bonuses, and lowering contributions for supplementary retirement benefits.

Government made false promises
According to Štrukelj, it follows from Koprivnikar’s statement that the government will no longer negotiate with public sector trade unions. Štrukelj said that this means that the government lost its credibility because it reneged on its promises. He suspects that the government had planned all along to back out of the negotiations, and that this is part of a plan to weaken social dialogue.

"The government wants us to fall into passivity. It wants to set our wages unilaterally. The question is whether we will remain a participatory democracy, a principle that is a cornerstone of the EU, or whether Romania will be moved west of Slovenia," Štrukelj said.

G. C.; translated by D. V.