CROATIA

Country: Croatia

Trade union and local organiser:
Railway Workers’ Trade Union of Croatia / Katarina Mindum – President of Women’s department, Vice president of the workers council, member of the ETF Women’s Committee.

Guests:
Erika Young (Italy) – Chairperson of the ETF Women’s Committee, member of the ETF Executive and Management Committees; Erika Tamas (Hungary) – member of the ETF Women’s Network, International Secretary of the VDSzSz (railway) and two of her colleagues, Györgyi Trautman Zsigri, Magdi Tóth.

Programme:
The day started by a visit to the trade union headquarter where the guests met with the trade union leadership. Erika Young, ETF Women’s Committee chairperson, made presentation on the ETF Women’s Committee and its gender equality priorities. This was followed by a discussion on the situation of women employed by the railway company. Late morning, the union organised a visit to Zagreb Main Railway Station and the guests had the opportunity to talk with women railway workers. The afternoon was set for a round table discussion on the trade union role in combating discrimination at work place – a challenging debate since rail transport is a male-dominated sector. A representative of the Ministry of Health was invited to make a presentation on health and safety at work place from gender perspective. Two were the main conclusions of the debates: 1) although access of women to training is quite open for a wide range of occupations whether or not male dominated, access to profession proves to be still a problem. This is for example the case of station masters: a number of women do follow training courses for this profession however till present there is no woman fulfilling this task in the Croatian railway company. 2) with regards to health and safety, the trade union officials pointed out that although participation of women in the rail sector is greater, the working conditions and working environment are not adapted to this change. At the initiative of the railway trade unions an Ergonomic Association of Croatian Railway Workers made up of trade union health and safety coordinators and H&S experts was set up. The Association submitted to the railway company a project on improvement of ergonomics at workplace, which takes into account different gender needs. The project was recently approved by the company. It will focus on research and its outcome will be used in future investment into workplace modernisation within the Croatian railway company. In addition, at the unions’ initiative, a workplace prototype for a female dominated job – ticket sales – was built, as a pilot project in a recently modernised railway station. This will be further implemented in Zagreb Main Railway Station.

Outcome of the event:
This event contributed to the promotion, within the Presidency and Executive Board of Railway Workers’ Trade Union of Croatia, of a women’s representative. The event proved equally advantageous for the VDSzSz colleagues who, following the country visit, agreed to approach their trade union leadership in order to set up a women’s structure. Days after the event, Erika Tamas wrote to the ETF: “this week Magdi Tóth carried out a successful campaign to bring together women transport workers from trade union locals across the country. They will participate in the Women Workers Conference to be held in Budapest on 18th March. The conference would decide on further steps to be taken in order to achieve full representation of women’s interest at company level. I am happy to see that working together with the ETF can have such quick results. I am convinced that without direct contact with experiences from other countries we would have not been here today!” (Erika Tamas)