Croatian labour law referendum, 2010

Croatia

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Croatia

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A referendum on labour law reforms in Croatia has been proposed in 2010, following a petition drive by five Croatian trade unions. They managed to gather 813,016 signatures, far more than the required 449,506 signatures (10 percent of all voters in Croatia), in the first successful popular referendum attempt.^[1][2][3]

The proposed new labour law opposed by the trade unions would set a six-month deadline for hammering out a new collective agreement after the existing one expires. After that, the workers' rights would be subject to separate agreements with individual employers instead.^[4]

After the Ministry of Administration completed its examination of the signatures, the Croatian Government first hinted that of all submitted signatures, no more than 330 thousand are valid, which would be insufficient for starting a referendum.^[5] After a public backlash, they nevertheless passed the signatures on to the Parliament.

The government also withdrew the reform proposals on 3 September 2010.^[6] The Croatian Parliament could not decide conclusively whether this rendered the referendum proposal moot or not, and instead passed the judgement on to the Constitutional Court of Croatia.^[7] The court decided on 20 October 2010 that there was no longer any need to hold the referendum.^[8]

The government and labour unions later agreed that there would be a different referendum instead, asking the question "Do you agree that a referendum must be called if so requested by 200,000 registered voters, and that the time for the collection of the required number of voters' signatures should be 30 days?". It will be held at the same time as the EU accession referendum, expected in 2011.^[9]

Opinion polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	In favour	Against	Undecided
Ipsos Puls for Nova TV	8 July	646	64%	15%	21%
CRO Demoskop	1 and 2 July	1300	88.6%	N/A	N/A

References

1. ^ "Croat unions win right to referendum on labour law". Forexyard.com. 24 June 2010. http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/Croat-unions-win-right-to-referendum-on-labour-law-2010-06-24T161805Z-UPDATE-2. Retrieved 24 June 2010. 
2. ^ "Sindikati objavili: Imamo 720.078 potpisa za referendum!" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 24 June 2010. http://www.jutarnji.hr/sindikati--imamo-505-000-potpisa--ne-zanimaju-nas-vladini-prijedlozi/841620/. Retrieved 24 June 2010. 
3. ^ "Za referendum o ZOR-u prikupljeno 813.016 potpisa" (in Croatian). vecernji.hr. 1 July 2010. http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/za-referendum-zor-u-prikupljeno-813-016-potpisa-clanak-162000. Retrieved 1 July 2010. 
4. ^ Croatian unions collect enough signatures for referendum
5. ^ Vlada ruši referendum o Zakonu o radu! (Croatian)
6. ^ http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/newsbriefs/2010/09/05/nb-07
7. ^ "Sabor: Ustavni sud odlučivat će o referendumu o ZOR-u" (in Croatian). Jutarnji list. 2010-09-24. http://www.jutarnji.hr/odluka-o-referendumu-prebacena-na-ustavni-sud/889339/. Retrieved 2010-09-25. 
8. ^ http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2010/10/20/nb-08
9. ^ http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2010/11/24/nb-11