“Instead of showing at least some interest in the alarming situation faced by the police officers, as we demanded, you, as the Prime Minister, are mocking us by delegating answers that are full of untruths and empty promises,” the Police Union of Slovenia was critical, arguing that Robert Golob’s government does not appreciate the professional and lawful attitude of the majority of operational police officers and their apolitical nature. “It is more than obvious that you are only rewarding your political supporters with public money.”
This week, the Police Union of Slovenia decided to respond to the reply regarding the deteriorating security situation of the 15th of August 2024, which was signed by the Minister of Public Administration. The reply received is, according to the union, “yet another in a series of attempts at manipulation and misdirection used by their government to cover up its lack of professionalism and will to address key issues of security for the country and its citizens.”
“The content simply demands our response,” the union believes, insisting that it is a false claim that “the government side has agreed with the Police Union’s proposals on the objectivization of job evaluations all along.” “If there was a genuine willingness to apply fair and transparent criteria, your original proposal would have been based on professional criteria, not on political calculations and subordination to the interests of officials that are loyal to you,” they believe, adding that the Golob government is clearly unable or unwilling to overcome the political interests that are being put before the real needs of the police officers, and of society at large, in the course of the negotiations.
The trade union also believes that the government does not value the professional and lawful attitude of most operational police officers and their apolitical nature. “It is more than obvious that you are only rewarding your political supporters with public money,” they were critical. “It is the responsibility of the government to enforce and evaluate salaries on the basis of the methodology in force, not on some trade unions, which are avoiding legitimate, transparent and methodologically objective criteria, while your government, in its role as the decision-maker, is supporting such practices. In fact, you yourself do not want to admit that such a proposal, without any criteria and benchmarks for job evaluation, is simply postponing the issue to the future while salary disparities continue to accumulate, as you set salaries solely on the basis of political affiliation and convenience,” they explained, adding that this is not surprising as their policy “is more than obviously based on ignoring the real needs and problems faced by police officers on the ground.”
The government is clearly working on the principle of “less pay for more work”
Rok Cvetko, President of the Police Union of Slovenia, pointed out that the authorities like to forget and feign ignorance, claiming that the government signed an agreement two years ago on the elimination of disproportions in basic salaries after 2018, and not on the elimination of disproportions in average salaries paid from 2015 onwards. “It is therefore extremely misleading that you state that the salary of police officers in the 6th pay grade has increased by 43 percent,” they stated, pointing out that these are data on salary payments with all allowances (night work, shift work, work on Sundays and public holidays, standby duty at home and in a specific place, overtime, work performed without the guaranteed rest period as provided for in the Labour Relations Act, etc.), which was performed under different working conditions (migrant problem, the COVID-19 epidemic, the Special Police Unit convocation, etc.).
“If your intention was to be fair, you would have used data on the evolution of basic salaries or the evolution of the starting salary grades of jobs in the whole public sector. But you did not! ” they were clear, adding that the government side, when quoting salary levels to the general public, “conveniently forgets to mention that many police officers who received a higher salary were later even worse off as a result of being placed in a higher income tax bracket (which resulted in, for example, a higher income tax and kindergarten fees), and in spite of this, receiving allowances for carrying out duties during risk events which, in our view, if the same rules applied to everyone, should not have been taxed, just as the allowances of healthcare workers were not taxed during the epidemic.” They are also bothered by the silence on the fact that in the past the pay scale was not adjusted for inflation, which means that “those who received a higher salary were nevertheless – in real terms – on the same level or even worse off than in the past. This simply cannot be described as anything but shameful, because your government is clearly working on the principle of ‘less pay for more work’.”
Regarding the design of the salary pillars, the union believes that it is clear that in this process, agreements have been reached with “some trade unions, but certainly not with those representing the security structure of the country.” “Your ignorance when it comes to our demands for a separate pillar for public order and security is not only unacceptable, but even contrary to the decisions of the Constitutional Court. But the problem is not only your unwillingness to engage in constructive dialogue – the problem is also your deliberate sabotage of efforts to fairly evaluate police work, which you are trying to wrap in demagogic platitudes,” they made it clear.
Pittance will not solve the problem of a dismissive attitude towards their work
“Furthermore, your reference to salary increases in euros as some kind of bonus that should be appreciated is the height of cynicism. You know very well that we are not just talking about salary levels, but about the valuation of our profession, which your government is devaluing even more with every action. This cannot be understood in any other way than that you are simply incapable of understanding that your policies are directly leading to increased staff turnover, which threatens the security of our country,” they added critically, warning: “If you really think that pittance will solve the problem of the contemptuous attitude towards our work, you are gravely mistaken!”
Since the government has stated that police officers’ pay could rise by up to 400 euros in a few years, the union warned that, once again, it had been omitted that “pay in comparable professions in other trades will rise by up to 800 euros.” “When we have asked you countless times what criteria your decision is based on, but apparently, you do not know, are not able or simply refuse to answer us. But let us ask you – why are the salaries of directors and officials being raised on average well over 1,000 euros, or even by 3,000 euros?” They wonder whether it might be because of their personal interests, because many of these posts will be filled by those who are loyal to them, or perhaps even by some of the current members of their government.
The government is merely an instrument of political apparatchiks who are only committed to their own interests
Persistence in such a policy will result in an even greater exodus of personnel from the police ranks. “When the security situation in the country inevitably deteriorates, it will be you who will be held responsible. All your attempts to sugarcoat the situation are just a cover for your total ignorance and incompetence to lead this country at a time of a deteriorating security situation,” they said.
“Finally, when you choose to blame police officers for their bonuses, while hypocritically glossing over the privileges of other parts of the public sector, you are only further confirming our claim that your government is merely an instrument of political apparatchiks who are committed only to their own interests,” they pointed out critically, noting that their bonuses were not “given” to them by the government, but were instead won by the police officers themselves, “through hard work and sacrifices that you have never made and will therefore obviously never understand! We therefore wonder publicly, what are your intentions and what are your aims, as for their sake you have deliberately belittled the police – are you trying to deprive the police officers of their dignity and are you trying to ridicule and belittle them? Or are you trying to politicize the police completely and have ‘puppet’ shows for the public? Do you want to have chaos in the security sphere in the country (which is quite broad – from the protection of lives and property to the security of property (including public property)), all this in order to possibly disable, passivize and demotivate the police? We don’t know, so we are asking you, the government.”
The Police Union of Slovenia announced that they will continue to use all available means to protect their rights and dignity and will not allow the government to treat them as second-class public servants. They reiterated their call for a serious approach to the fair evaluation of the police profession and an end to the misleading and harmful practices.
