ZAGREB, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Workers of Croatia's largest shipyards halt their strike on Friday after receiving delayed wages for July, Croatian television N1 reported.
The workers of two shipyards, "Uljanik" in Pula and "3. Maj" in Rijeka, both affiliated to the same Uljanik Group, went on strike on Aug. 22 over unpaid wages and bad management in the company.
For almost ten days workers were staging a protest in coastal city Pula with many citizens joining them. On Aug. 27, hundreds of workers came to the capital Zagreb where they protested in front of the government building. On Thursday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said that the government had found a model to help workers and pay them salaries for July and August.
One of the union leaders Djino Sverko told reporters on Friday that the workers will be back at their workplaces on Monday.
The shipyards are dealing with financial problems, waiting for a new strategic partner to invest money and restructure the company. In March 2018 the Uljanik Group chose local company Kermas Energija as its strategic partner, but the European Commission still has not approved their recapitalization plans.
The Uljanik Group is a private company in which workers control almost 50 percent of the company while the state has a minor stake. After Croatia joined the European Union in 2013, shipyards in the country had to be restructured to operate without government money, since the EU rules don't allow state financial help.
Croatia has spent over 30 billion kuna (4.7 billion U.S. dollars) to save its shipyards in the last 17 years. Just a few years ago it seemed that Uljanik had overcome the financial crisis with many ship orders, but the management created losses which are now enormous.
