The Independent Union of Science and Higher Education sharply criticizes Prime Minister Plenković for allocating 90 million euros for veteran pensions, while simultaneously refusing to fund the elimination of discrimination against university lecturers.
The government's decision to allocate 90 million euros for veteran pensions has sparked a strong reaction from the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education. They see it as a clear signal to everyone working in the public sector: the state coffers are not empty, and a fall in real wages is not a necessity.
The union estimates that Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has once again demonstrated his political pragmatism with this move, especially when it comes to retaining the support of his own voters. They also noted an interesting development: the initiative by the Možemo party for greater veteran rights was initially met with hostility by HDZ and government officials, only for the Prime Minister to present an almost identical proposal, repackaged and estimated at the aforementioned 90 million euros, as a government project just a few weeks later.
The union believes this has exposed the truth about the alleged need for belt-tightening and "cooling the economy", these stories, they claim, do not apply equally to everyone. As the best example, they cite the Ministry of Science and Education, which recently rejected a series of well-argued requests to end discrimination against university lecturers.
"The Ministry, although it acknowledges the discrimination, has refused to eliminate it, citing a lack of funds. For comparison, we are talking about an amount of several tens of thousands of euros per year," the Independent Union of Science and Higher Education stated.
What particularly bothers them is the contrast in the approach of the two ministers. As they note, Minister of Veterans Tomo Medved justifies the cost of nearly 90 million euros with incredible ease, not ruling out its further increase, while the Ministry of Science and Education cannot secure even a fraction of that money for a problem whose existence it itself admits.
Amid the general rise in prices and wages in the private sector, the union warns that an urgent correction of the base salary in public services is needed, as well as a more significant increase in incomes in education. "Therefore, education and science must become politically relevant," they said.
The union's Secretary General, Matija Kroflin, warned that such a policy carries a serious message. "The veteran population is important to HDZ and the Prime Minister, while teachers, lecturers, professors, scientists, and other public sector employees are, by all accounts, currently not. This is a message that those employed in education and science, as well as all unions operating in these systems, need to be aware of," Kroflin stated.
