Today, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Janša, met representatives of the associations of employers. They exchanged views on the social dialogue in Slovenia and working material for the Employment Relationship Act, which has been coordinated after long negotiations.

 

(Photo: Primož Lavre/Salomon 2000)

 

Mr Janša stressed that the document is a compromise, which will bring about numerous changes and is a step towards a more flexible labour market. The act will include measures for easier employment, improving the position of small employers, greater internal mobility, more opportunities for fixed-term employment, greater flexibility in project work, partial shortening of periods of notice, and greater protection of employees from discrimination and all forms of mobbing. Social partners have also agreed to increase the maximum overtime hours worked, which according to the PM is one of the most pressing issues in the Slovenian economy. So far, increasing overtime, even when the employee agrees, has not been possible, and many Slovenian companies have had to cancel orders.

 

Some social partners will discuss the agreed solution in their respective representative bodies. "We believe that these procedures will be concluded by the end of the month and then, if the will is there, an agreement on a coordinated working draft of the act will be signed," said the PM, adding that an agreement was reached at the right time to include it in the act and implement it in the following months.

 

Mr Janša also explained that the government planned to undertake a thorough analysis one year after the act comes into force, and asked unions and employers to do the same. "On this basis we will open a discussion on whether we need to take additional steps and what should they be. At this moment we cannot decide if additional amendments to the act will follow."

 

"Our work will not end with signing the agreement and passing the law. This is the first phase. Additional analyses and possibly amendments will be needed to make the Slovenian labour market flexible on the one hand, and safe for employees, and thus competitive in Europe and the EMU, which Slovenia joined in January, on the other," the PM concluded.