The government presented to social partners on Monday a draft law whereby employers will have to pay higher wages for work on Sunday, Hina news agency reported.
From 1 January 2023, employees in all economic sectors will be paid 50% more than their usual wage for work on Sunday. Sunday wages are currently 30-37% higher.
Labour minister Marin Piletić explained that the number of working Sundays in a year would also be limited to three per month and a maximum of 16 per year.
Unions had demanded the double-the-normal wage for Sundays, as is the standard practice in Germany.
Irena Weber, head of the national employers’ association HUP, said employers and unions were largely in agreement on the need to pay more.
“We have no problem whatsoever in paying more for work on Sunday,” Weber said, as reported by N1.
However, she added that what HUP finds problematic is “how Sunday work is regulated and also how we can ensure that we have enough employees for cases when work on Sunday is indispensable.”
Weber explained that employees now have the option to be conscientious objectors and refuse to work on Sunday – an option many are likely to embrace in the staunchly Roman Catholic country.
“In such conditions, it will be virtually impossible to ensure business as usual,” she said.
Another potential bone of contention is the issue of numerous shopping malls across the country that are open every Sunday until at least 8pm. The government wants to end this practice and has quoted its own data according to which shopping malls generate less than 10% of their weekly revenues on Sunday.
(Zoran Radosavljević | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
