Regardless of the salary of 5 to 9 thousand kuna, an hour of break, and paid transport to the plantation, Zlatan Kljaković Gašpić had no one to hire

More than 50 tons of cherries were ruined for the owner of the plantation in Majkovec near Sveti Ivan Zelina, and not because of natural disasters and hail, but because there was no one to pick them. 

Regardless of the salary of 5 to 9 thousand kuna, an hour of break, and paid transport to the plantation, Zlatan Kljaković Gašpić had no one to hire because no one was applying, and those who did apply worked very poorly. The problem could not even be solved by imported workers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal because he would only be able to obtain their work permits in August and September. 

– And there you see. I found ten Nepalese through an agency who are ready to pick cherries, but they could only start in August because their work permits and visas have not been arranged. And in August I only need one worker to mow around the orchard. Cherries are picked now and are going to waste because there is no one to pick them – Kljaković Gašpić told Slobodna Dalmacija, while blaming slow administration and excessive bureaucracy. If an employer wants to hire foreign workers, they must notify the police station. After that, the police seek consent from the Employment Office, which conducts a survey among the unemployed on whether they would and want to work in cherry picking. If they respond negatively, then it is possible to approve permits for foreigners, but if our unemployed respond positively, then there is nothing of work permits for foreigners. Kljaković Gašpić believes that this is precisely the biggest problem – our people do not want to work even though they declared that they do. – In Croatia there is work for workers, but not for idlers. Everyone who wants to can work, but those unemployed people like being registered with the employment office and live that way, sometimes doing some undeclared work and being satisfied with that - Kljaković Gašpić is resolute. – The Ministry of the Interior is not to blame, but the legislator who prescribed a long, complicated procedure and those bureaucratic brains who devised such a law and thus damaged the state budget and prevented us farmers from earning income – he adds and believes that all the relevant Associations remain silent and do nothing. 

Source: vecernji.hr