Public sector pay talks get underway

Unions and the new Slovenian government have started negotiations on pay in the public sector, with the government calling for “linear measures”, presumably across-the-board pay cuts.

The budget for 2013 is based on a 6.4% reduction in the public sector pay bill, although some of this has already been achieved.

The public sector unions have rejected further cuts and Dušan Semolic, leader of the largest union confederation ZSSS, has said that “cutting the budget deficit to 3% in a single year is a cruel goal”.