The trade union organization "Plantaža" organized a warning strike today, because, as president Anka Knežević said, they failed to reach a social dialogue with the employer.
They demand the fulfillment of four demands by July 1, the main of which is the dismissal of the executive director Miroslav Vuković, the secretary of the company and the complete management of the company.
Other demands are the regular and indiscriminate payment of wages in the gross amount with the payment of bank loans and other suspensions from employees' accounts, the development of a new systematization of workplaces with the active participation of union representatives, the withdrawal of the initiative to the Constitutional Court for the review of the constitutionality of the company's Collective Agreement, as well as the withdrawal of the lawsuit regarding with a violation of the fiduciary duty of the members of the board of directors of the company and establishing the nullity of that legal transaction.
If the conditions are not met by July 1, the union will, as Knežević said, make a decision on the next steps and the strike, and until then they will respect the minimum work process so that production is not threatened.
She stated that these strike demands were supported by their signatures of 260 workers, while this morning there were about 200 of them at the protest in front of the administration building. Knežević said that it is the old management that they believe bears responsibility for the bad state of the company. , which is why they are asking for his dismissal and the election of a new one who would manage the Plantations. "We have good cooperation with the new board of directors chosen by the Government, but not with the old management that remained. This strike has nothing to do with politics, we just wish our company well," said Knežević.
When asked why they did not organize a protest until now when the problems they are talking about have been going on for years, Knežević said that they had negotiations with the employer, but that the crisis and bad relationship have now culminated.
The workers' protest was supported by the general secretary of the Union of Trade Unions, to which this trade union organization belongs, Duško Zarubica, who said that the demands of the workers are justified and that they want the recovery of the company they consider their home.
The president of the branch union of agriculture, food and tobacco industry, Veljko Baošić, stated that from the beginning they were involved in negotiations with the management, but on the other hand, there was no will for quality negotiations and a relationship with the trade union organization.
Knežević said that in the past two years, they had several salary reductions, that some workers received April and some May, as well as that this selectivity damages interpersonal relations in the company. She also said that the management irregularly pays installments from the employees' salaries to the banks, which creates additional costs for the workers.
The company has been operating negatively for two years, last year the State Audit Institution gave two negative evaluations of the company's work and operations, which is why the Special State Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation. After that, the long-term duo that had been managing the company until now resigned: the president of the board of directors, Veselin, and the executive director, Verica Maraš. The former board of directors elected Vuković as the new executive director in October last year, who until then was head of the legal sector, while Maraš became his adviser.
Two months ago, the government elected a new board of directors headed by Nebojša Vuksanović, but there was no change in the executive director and management.
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