The strike of workers at the Croatian Fair and Hostel Association, an association of youth hostels engaged in the development of youth tourism, has begun. The strike is organized by Novi sindikat, and the reason for the strike is the management’s refusal to negotiate a new collective agreement, as well as the planned outsourcing of workers.

In addition to previous debts owed to the workers, the management headed by Katarina Miličević cancelled the collective agreement last year and refused to negotiate the signing of a new one.

In April, we initiated a mediation process, during which the management persistently refused any meaningful dialogue. It should also be noted that over the years workers’ rights and wages have been gradually reduced – including base salaries, coefficients and other elements. As a result, HFHS workers have become some of the cheapest labour in the tourism sector in Croatia.

The final trigger was the management’s decision made ten days ago, according to which all cleaning staff and janitors will be outsourced to the private company Superčisto d.o.o. starting from 1 July. The company is reportedly owned by a relative of one of the board members. Among these workers are housekeepers who have been working at HFHS for more than 35 years, and they are now suddenly being forced to transfer to a new company of very questionable credibility, which reportedly employs only seven to nine workers, and where we have already identified at least one undeclared employee.

Croatian legislation unfortunately allows such practices, leaving workers largely unprotected against these kinds of decisions. In response to the management’s continued refusal to address outstanding debts, engage in collective bargaining, and reconsider the outsourcing decision, we have launched a strike in two hostels where we have union membership – Zadar and Zagreb. These are also the key HFHS facilities that generate the highest revenues.

Since all workers will formally become employees of the new company starting tomorrow, they will continue to perform their duties tomorrow and the day after. However, starting Monday, Novi sindikat will announce a solidarity strike by the workers of Superčisto d.o.o. in support of HFHS workers, and they will rejoin the strike from Tuesday onward.

The Croatian Fair and Hostel Association is an organization whose roots date back to socialist Yugoslavia, when it functioned as a social organization responsible for the recreation and leisure of children and youth. During the process of transformation and privatization, control of the organization was taken over by a small group that effectively turned it into a private association without investing any of their own capital.

Ten years ago, Novi sindikat negotiated the first collective agreement in the company, but management soon began violating it. Debts to workers started to accumulate, and in 2015 a new administration was appointed. This administration proved extremely arrogant and refused to discuss resolving the outstanding debts.

Workers were told to sue if they wished, as the management believed it was in the right. However, court proceedings have gradually proven otherwise, with workers receiving judgments awarding them between 20,000 and 50,000 kuna.

There are also no real savings from outsourcing. Such a move has no economic or business justification, as commissions for the new employer must also be paid. Since the company is burdened by loans from previous years, we fear that the management may be planning to sell off valuable real estate and property, which they are able to do despite not having invested anything themselves. The organization has been poorly managed for years, something our members have repeatedly warned about. HFHS owns a hostel in the centre of Zagreb and a new facility in Zadar, yet still reports losses in Rijeka. We do not know the exact situation in hostels in Pula, Dubrovnik, Lošinj and elsewhere, but operating at a loss during a period of strong tourism growth in such locations is truly alarming.

Working conditions in HFHS have become increasingly difficult in recent years, with workers required to do more work for less pay. Whenever employees raised concerns about violations of the collective agreement, members of management responded with the phrase: “If you don’t like it, quit.” For example, in 2015 workers were not paid four salaries and ultimately received only the minimum wage.

More broadly, the strike of workers at the Croatian Fair and Hostel Association is also significant as a strike in the tourism sector – a highly profitable branch of the economy in which both domestic and foreign entrepreneurs accumulate enormous profits each year through the intensified exploitation of labour. As a result, there are fewer and fewer workers willing to remain in Croatia. It is also significant that the strike is taking place in the middle of the tourist season, when the leverage and impact of labour action are greatest. Already today, the paralysis of hostels in Zagreb and Zadar during the tourist season demonstrates the power that workers hold. The management reacted in panic and began threatening to bring in external labour. Therefore, in addition to fighting for their rights at their own workplaces, HFHS workers and Novi sindikat are also opening a new path through this strike and demonstrating a new direction for the qualitative development of the labour movement in Croatia – toward organizing and struggle within the tourism sector.

Let workers across the Adriatic coast hear about this strike – in hotels, apartments, hostels, restaurants, cafés, shipyards, transport companies, shopping centres and other workplaces along the coast.