By The Government of Montenegro, the Union of Employers, the Confederation of Trade Unions and the Union of Free Trade Unions signed a new General Collective Agreement yesterday.
It is the most important document for all employees in Montenegro, which gives a greater scope of rights compared to the Labor Law. It is now the most important document for the members of the Trade Union of Media and employees in the media, since the Branch collective agreement for the field of media ceased to be valid two years ago.
During the negotiations on the new General Collective Agreement, the biggest point of contention was the increase of daily wages for work on Sundays for employees in the media by 80 percent. Private media owners demanded that media employees be exempted from this increase in daily wages, claiming that it would threaten the sustainability of the media. The main board of the Trade Union of Media eventually agreed to postpone the increase in daily wages in the media for 6 months so that the General Collective Agreement could be signed, but also to give a chance to negotiate a new Branch Collective Agreement for the media sector during that period. If the Branch collective agreement is not adopted in 6 months, the increase in daily wages for work on Sundays and in the media will automatically come into effect. This is stated in Article 37 of the General Collective Agreement.
If the Branch Collective Agreement is adopted in the next 6 months, it cannot contain a smaller scope of rights compared to the General Collective Agreement, which is stated in Article 3 of the General Collective Agreement. This means that media employees, no matter what, will start receiving increased daily wages for working on Sundays in 6 months.
Employees in the media who receive a minimum wage of 450 euros and work overtime, at night, on call, on double shifts, on holidays and Sundays, with this General Collective Agreement will immediately receive higher wages. Namely, until now, overtime work, night work, on-call work, double shifts, work on holidays and Sundays were included in the calculation of their minimum wage, and those employees received a total of 450 euros for all of this, while other employees received additional money for all these items. From now on, all this will be added to 450 euros, which will avoid further discrimination.
The new General Collective Agreement increases daily wages for double shifts and standby by 10 percent, and numerous other rights for employees are guaranteed. On the other hand, this General Collective Agreement abolishes the disciplinary procedure, but employees, as before, can protect their rights in court proceedings.
The text of the General Collective Agreement on the Montenegrin language can be viewed on the link: Opšti kolektivni ugovor.
