The striking journalists of the Vecernji List daily returned to work on Monday after 26 days of strike action even though they had failed to reach a collective agreement with the management, which was the main purpose of the strike, the newspaper's union said.

"We are ending the strike for tactical reasons, but we will not give up our legitimate demands. We care too much about Vecernji List to allow it to continue suffering and deteriorating in quality. Managers, owners and chief editors come and go, but we stay, and we are interested more than anyone else in the future of Vecernji List," the said.

The union criticised the government for failing to ensure compliance in the media sector with the Labour Act as the basic law regulating labour relations.