According to Štrukelj, unions gave the government until Thursday to answer their demand to scrap the wage bill cut, and since there was no response, the unions will start forming strike committees next week.

He stressed that the government was drastically interfering with the rights of 161,000 public sector employees by confronting them with accomplished facts and by not negotiating with the unions as the legitimate representatives.

"We didn't even know about this cut, which is unacceptable for us," he said, adding that starting preparations for the very probable strike with an indefinite duration "seems to be the only way to get a negotiation position".

In the next few days, the unions are to put forward their strike demands and state exactly which unions will take part in the protest.

Finance Minister Janez Šuštaršič told the press today that the government understood the unions' positions and calls, asserting that specific solutions would be found in different parts of the public sector.

He noted that he had already conducted talks with relevant officials and that relatively "painless solutions" for cutting the costs had already been found.

Šušteršič believes that once other ministers conduct similar talks, the unions will understand the process better and there may be fewer protests and strikes.