Living and working in Slovenia

The negotiating parties could not reach a consensus on this issue throughout 2023 but agreed to a wage increase of 80% of consumer price inflation between December 2022 and December 2023. The agreement from January 2024 comprises two elements: the indexation of wages from June 2024 and the payment of the annual leave bonus in March 2024 (instead of June). The indexation is estimated to be around 3.4%.

The deal did not stop some trade unions (representing doctors and judges) from launching strikes in January 2024. Judges filed a lawsuit in the Constitutional Court, which decided in June 2023 that judges’ salaries lagged behind those of other sectors and jeopardised judicial independence. The court gave the government six months to remedy the situation. Doctors also went on strike despite a pay rise of around €700 in 2023, claiming that the government failed to fulfil commitments from the January 2023 agreement with the Trade Union of Doctors and Dentists regarding their promotions, additional pay raises, overtime payments and so on. The government response to these pressures is that any pay rise must be agreed upon within the new pay system in the public sector and coordinated with other trade unions.

The struggle between strong ‘guild’ trade unions has kept wages low in both the public and private sectors. Basic wages, including various bonuses, in the Slovenian wage system are low and fail to reflect the true cost of labour. Since the basic wages of low-paid workers are determined below the mandatory minimum wage, bonuses (for asocial working hours and the like) are calculated as a percentage of a very low basic salary. Consequently, wages of these workers revolve around the minimum wage regardless of the difficulty of their working conditions. Only two collective agreements in the private sector increased basic wages closer to, but still far below, the minimum wage (the collective agreement for the hospitality and tourism industries and the collective agreement for Slovenia’s trade sector). The more centralised public sector has yet to fully address this wage disparity.

2024 will be another year of instability for social dialogue. A solution requires a compromise between the employer organisations’ demand for a ‘labour cost-cutting policy’ and trade unions’ pressure for wage increases that the government declines to enforce. It will also be challenging to persuade employer organisations to return to the negotiating table after their ultimatum from December 2023 was refused.

Concerning working time, the Amended Labour and Social Security Registers Act (ZEPDSV-A) introduced new rules on record-keeping and data on working hours to ensure compliance with legislation on working hours, rest and break periods. Furthermore, the Amended Employment Relationships Act (ZDR-1D), dubbed ‘a small worker constitution’, extended the definition of protected workers to caregivers and victims of domestic violence, who can propose a part-time employment contract to employers.

The lack of knowledge about collective bargaining is a continuous problem in Slovenia. Data on the density of employer and trade union organisations and collective bargaining coverage are both outdated and inaccurate. The situation raises concerns since a lack of understanding of the current situation ultimately hinders the implementation of policies that could create conditions enabling social dialogue. Experts warn that all three social partners – employer organisations, trade unions and government – will have to take action to reverse the negative trends in social dialogue.