The action plan for new hirings was endorsed by the management of Luka Koper on Wednesday and comes in response to political calls for action to resolve the status of workers hired through subcontractors.
According to Luka Koper chairman Dimitrij Zadel, job offerings for 12 different working stations will be published on Thursday. The first candidates are to be employed in January.
The port operator plans to create an additional 203 jobs this year, independently of the issue of subcontract workers.
In addition, the company will publish calls to select employment agencies and subcontractors. These are to be selected by the end of February.
An estimated 346 workers are to be hired through agencies, while a further 500 will work at the port through subcontractors.
The adjustments will increase labour costs by about EUR 9m a year.
Zadel also indicated the possibility that all agency workers get employed directly by Luka Koper in the long term.
Based on an analysis of the demand for labour force conducted in June next year, the port operator is to hire new staff at the expense of a reduction in the number of agency workers.
The agency workers will do the jobs which are on the company's staffing table and will be subject to the collective bargaining agreement.
Meanwhile, subcontractors will provide services that are different from those provided by the port such as car transport in the car terminal.
Although the current subcontractors will be able to apply for both calls, Zadel said safeguards would be put in place to prevent abuse.
The crane operators' trade union said it had been involved in the development of the new hiring model, so the result was "the best approximation of a normal relationship between an employee and employer".
Data from the company's unaudited half-year report shows that Luka Koper employs close to 1,200 people at the group level, about a thousand of which were employed at the parent company.
