The Day of the General Strike

On March 18 Slovenia woke to find itself in the dark and blockaded. Half of the Slovenian households were without electricity from 7 to 9 am and the other half from 20 pm to 21.30 pm. Vehicles were stopped in front of the blockades along the road. On that day most of the stores and restaurants, as well as schools, were closed. The strike was supported even by the police and customs trade unions.

The strike was prompted by the proposal of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions to maintain the salary freeze of Slovenian workers till the end of the month, thus preventing the passing of a law which would repeal the law on the salary freeze. This law regulated salaries in around 70% Slovenian firms and represented the main obstacle to the increase of salaries. The requests of the trade unions for the abolishment of the salary freeze law, adherence to the obligations of the already signed agreements, and an increase in the minimum wage, all stemmed from the very difficult social position of the workers. Namely, the basic wage for January in Slovenia amounted to 13,350 Slovenian tolars (around 49,395 YU dinars), but due to the indexing system and poor economic situation, some salaries came to only 8,000 SLT (29,600 YU dinars). At the same time costs for the basic essentials for a family of four came to around 36,647 SLT (135,593 YU dinars) so that not even two normal salaries were enough to cover these basic costs.

March 1 of this year brought in a salary freeze which was then "unfrozen" by emergency legislation. In this way one of the most important demands of the trade unions was met and Slovenian workers were able to feel for the first time in decades how important they can be if the trade unions are independent of central government.