STA, February 12, 2018 – Police officers and other Interior Ministry employees will go on strike on Monday as the first of three public sector groups to stage industrial action this week. According to the head of the Police Trade Union of Slovenia (PSS), Radivoj Uroševič, the strike will continue until their demands are met.
Some 9,000 employees are expected to take part in the strike, which will be in line with the legal restrictions for police strikes.
Police officers will still work to prevent any actions that put people's lives, health or property at risk, Uroševič said. A rally will also be staged in front of the Government Palace at 10:30.
The head of the Trade Union of Police Officers (SPS), Kristjan Mlekuš, said they demanded that police work be valued according to their tasks, powers, responsibilities and danger they are exposed to daily.
The last police strike was held between November 2015 and June 2016, ending in a pay raise.
Police officers now say the government failed to meet all its commitments and unilaterally encroached upon previously agreed rights with the annex signed with public sector trade unions in the summer after talks on the elimination of pay discrepancies.
According to the trade unions, the "profession of a police officer is again unjustifiably and completely devalued compared to other profession groups of authorised officers".
Meanwhile, healthcare and social care workers will follow the police officers with a two-hour token strike on Tuesday, while employees in education, who were the first to threaten the government with industrial action, will join the strike wave on Wednesday.
