Former workers of the company "Valgo Montenegro" in front of the shipyard: Cleaning of waste and fuel oil is not up to standards?

Former workers of the company "Valgo Montenegro", 15 of them, who were given notice of termination of employment after the expiration of their contract on May 20, gather every day in front of the gate of the former Adriatic shipyard in Bijela, in order to draw the attention of the authorities in the Environmental Protection Agency to the fact that the cleaning part of the land from oily waste and fuel oil, as they claim, does not work in accordance with environmental standards.

They gathered again this morning and pointed out that the gatherings will continue until the demands are met, that is, they return to work.

They openly doubt that Prime Minister Duško Marković is aware of the real situation regarding the cleaning in the area of ​​the former Shipyard.

The World Bank has approved a project worth 21 million euros for the rehabilitation of five ecological black spots in Montenegro, including this one in Bijela, which, judging by what is happening on the ground, has no end in sight.

Former worker Mladen Krivokapić claims that 15 of them lost their jobs after the contract expired, but also after five days earlier they asked the Environmental Protection Agency to examine the quality of the work on cleaning part of the land from oily waste and fuel oil.

"It was easier for the management of Valgo Montenegro, led by Rajko Uskoković and Milan Božović, not to extend our contracts and to start employing unqualified labor without any training, especially in the area of ​​asbestos testing, whose training must be carried out by licensed companies from France, and which former employees had to go through and receive certificates for the same training," Krivokapić pointed out.

The former workers note that since August 5 of last year, no ship has come to pick up the remaining grit, and the Valgo company "persisted in justifying it with some changes by the local authorities in Seville".

"Although we thought we were not entering into a media fight with the company Valgo Montenegro and the Environmental Protection Agency, we were simply forced to address the public after avoiding the meeting where we insisted on sitting down and exchanging arguments about the current situation as well as after the statement it issued Agency. Do we finally know where the "famous grit" is going? Where is it going and in what quantity of oiled land since the public has been informed that it is going to Norway. Why was the project not completed until March 20," former workers ask.

The director of the company "Valgo Montenegro", Rajko Uskoković, did not answer the phone calls and messages of the "Vijesti" journalist.

"What is the company Valgo afraid of, so it has doubled the security service (are they spending money from a strategically important and capital project for the state) so the French will not defend us from themselves. Why didn't anyone go out on the field and see for themselves for four months what is the Valgo company doing, or is manager Božović trusted all the time," ex-employees note.