Lidija Jerkič of the ZSSS trade union confederation highlighted the absence of a coordinated position among employers' organisations, telling the press on Thursday the GZS only officially presented their proposal to them and to the unions today.

"One could see at today's meeting that employers have not reached common ground here," Jerkič said about the agreement proposal, which is focusing on a reform of the pay system in the corporate sector for 2019-2025 and is promoting tying wage growth to productivity gains.

Despite the focus on wages, the unions feel that there are too few concrete elements concerning wage growth in the proposal.

Under the proposal unveiled a week ago, average gross wages would increase by nearly a quarter by 2025, however provided that annual productivity gains almost doubled compared to 2014-2018, from 2.7% to 4.8%.

"We support the plans for development and growth of wages and employment, but there are no mechanisms that would guarantee this," Jerkič said, arguing the proposal was not balanced.

While the Economic and Social Council will appoint a task force to draw up the social agreement next Friday, the ZSSS said it would not back any agreement that would interfere in the recently amended minimum wage act. The GZS is trying to include as many bonuses as possible in the minimum wage, which is something the current legislation does not envisage.

The unions' answer to the proposal is a general collective agreement, which was presented to employers today and which for instance raises all basic wages to at least the level of the minimum wage.

Such an agreement, which also protects those not falling under any of the collective agreements adopted for individual industries, had been in place until 2005, when employers rescinded it.