Two trade unions of the Pljevlja Vodovod condemned the new hires: They are using a vacuum, workers are being piled up unnecessarily

The board of directors of the Pljeval Waterworks adopted a new systematization of workplaces, which increased the number of employees in that municipal company by seven compared to the previous number, which, according to two trade union organizations, made the business of the company, which has been in serious financial problems for a long time, even more difficult.

The new systematization was adopted after the current local government, led by the Democratic Party of Socialists, was convincingly defeated in the local elections in Pljevlje, and when it is quite certain that there will be a change in the leadership of the Waterworks in the coming period.

The union believed that the current jobs should be redistributed, rather than hiring new workers, considering that the company is in serious financial problems.

Before the new systematization of workplaces, 116 workers were permanently employed in Vodovod.

In a joint statement, signed by the presidents of these two trade union organizations Vodovod, Jovan Bujišić i Goran Drobnjak, it is stated that the systematization of workplaces was adopted a year ago.

"At the meeting of the Board of Directors of DOO "Vodovod", held on November 7, 11, decisions were made on systematization changes and an increase in the number of executors for individual positions on the proposal of the acting executive director, to which we as a representative trade union organization submitted within the legal deadline their opinions. President of the Board of Directors Milica Božović, although she is bound by the Collective Agreement, she did not invite the presidents of trade union organizations to attend the meeting and explain their opinions before making a decision, especially since the opinions were contrary to the proposal of the acting executive director", the announcement states.

The trade unionists claim that three members of the Board of Directors did not accept the proposal of the sole representative of the workers in the Board of Directors, who asked for the postponement of the meeting until the presidents of the representative unions and the competent municipal Secretariat are called.

"Even though the only representative of the workers in the Board of Directors (the other one has not been elected by the Board of Directors for a year, although all the documentation was duly submitted for his election) informed the president and other members of the Board about all this, and that no one from the Secretariat was present at the meeting for housing and communal activities, traffic and water, which is directly responsible for supervising the work of the Company, proposed postponing the meeting until all the presidents of the representative trade union organizations are invited, as well as for the secretary of the Secretariat to be present at the meeting, however the president of the Board, as well as the remaining two members Mirella Kondo i Jadranka Acimović, they did not accept the proposal," claim the trade unionists.

They remind that the systematization of jobs in Vodovod was adopted only a year ago with the consent of all trade union organizations, the Board of Directors and the then acting executive director. "That's why such one-sided actions of the Board of Directors and disrespect for the president of trade union organizations, and therefore the workers of DOO "Vodovod" Pljevlja, worry us, because as we all know, DOO "Vodovod" has been struggling with major financial problems in recent years, above all large tax debts and contributions and that last year by adopting the Sanitation Plan we tried to create the conditions for signing a new reprogram with the Tax Administration. Instead of dealing with these important topics and answering or asking the acting CEO at that meeting Mladen Dragašević why, after receiving a decision from the Tax Administration, which adopted our request for reprogramming, with the obligation to make a one-time payment of 5 percent of the basic tax debt by November 11, 2022, those funds were not paid, and therefore DOO "Vodovod" brought in a situation where the solution is canceled and the account of the company is blocked, the Board of Directors allows the number of workers to increase in Vodovod, which already has so many problems, and thus further burdens the already poor financial condition of the Company", the announcement states.

Bujišić and Drobnjak point out that the responsibility for possible consequences for the company will be borne by the Board of Directors and the acting executive director.