The employees of Elektroprivreda (EPCG) will be paid the so-called 13th salary in June, which, according to the management of the company, has nothing to do with the elections scheduled for Sunday, the Network for the Affirmation of the Non-Governmental Sector (MANS) announced.
They explained that the decision was made by the Board of Directors at a meeting at the end of May, and because of the achieved business results of the company. The management of EPCG, as stated, claims that the decision has nothing to do with the elections, but they refused to reveal how much funds will be distributed to employees.
In the decision document, obtained by MANS, it is stated that the initiative came from the Trade Union Organization of EPCG employees, and that all those who have established an employment relationship until the end of 2021 are entitled to the bonus. Those who started an employment relationship during the last year will be paid an amount proportional to the number of days spent in the employment relationship.
"Additional money will not only be given to current employees, but also to those who were engaged during this and last year through the so-called agencies for the temporary transfer of employees, according to the decision signed by the president of the Board of Directors, Milutin Đukanović," said MANS.
The management of EPCG told MANS that the decision to pay the so-called 13th salary in the month in which parliamentary elections are held has nothing to do with daily politics.
"EPCG and its employees cannot be held responsible for the fact that, every now and then, elections are held, nor can they freeze the resolution of issues of interest to the company because of such situations," the management said, adding that they respect all legal obligations.
In EPCG, they claim that the reason for paying the bonus is the excellent business result in the last year, which was determined by the audited financial report.
MANS stated that the aforementioned financial reports have yet to be considered by the Shareholders' Assembly, which is scheduled for the end of June, so it is not clear how the Board of Directors refers in its decision to documents that have not yet been adopted.
"Although he refers to excellent results in business during the last year, it is interesting that the net profit then was even ten times smaller than in 2021," MANS said.
They announced that according to data from the last financial report, EPCG employed 1,11 thousand people. The management of EPCG refused to announce how much money will be spent for the payment of the so-called 13th salary in the month when the parliamentary elections are held.
MANS explained that the Law on Financing of Political Entities and Election Campaigns does not oblige state-owned companies to inform the public about new employment during the election campaign.
"This is an obvious "loophole" in the law that many companies use to hide that pre-election recruitment is still used as a mechanism to influence voters. This is particularly problematic in a situation where state-owned companies continued to be used as prey for political parties even after the removal of the previous regime," MANS said.
In the previous period, MANS, using the Law on Free Access to Information, requested data on the employment contracts concluded by EPCG, but the company ignored every request, even after the decisions of the Agency for the Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information that they are ordered to submit requested information.
"EPCG is one of the state companies whose projects we can often see as an integral part of pre-election campaigns of political parties whose officials occupy leadership positions. This trend was particularly pronounced during the previous presidential elections, and it continued in the campaign for the parliamentary elections, where the EPCG projects and the results achieved are attributed exclusively to the management, with a special note from which political party such management staff originates", MANS announced. .
They said that this attitude towards state resources was characteristic of the parties of the previous government, but examples from the election processes after 2020 show that the mechanisms of abuse were successfully taken over by the new government, and the former opposition.
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