Part of the employees of the Railway Rolling Stock Maintenance (OŽVS) requested the dismissal of the entire Board of Directors of that company and the removal of the position of the Deputy President of the Board Vladan Gačević, who is a minority shareholder of this company. In addition, in the letter that "Vijesti" had access to, the workers request changes to the collective agreement so that the employees' jobs would be guaranteed in the event of a merger of that company with the Railway Transport of Montenegro (ŽPCG), or that if the employees do not accept it, they have the right to severance pay of 24 gross wages.
In the letter signed by the New Trade Union OŽVS and the Trade Union Organization of Railway Assets, it is reminded that they have already addressed the authorities and asked for the protection of their rights, because due to the possible merger with the Railway Transport, 48 of them could be fired. In a new letter, the unions demand an urgent meeting with the prime minister Ditan Abazović and Minister of Capital Investments Ervin Ibrahimović, in order to present their problems and requests to them because, as they claim, the Board of Directors and the Executive Director Dragana Lukšić they persistently refuse and avoid conversations.
Planned Redundancy Scenario
The workers emphasized that after learning that 48 of them could lose their jobs, they requested an urgent meeting of the Board of Directors, consultants, management and the President of the Union. As they said, the session was postponed because three members of the Board and one of the consultants could not attend.
"Are they trying to change the scenario of the planned surplus, with excuses about a misunderstanding and drawing conclusions from the context because the intentions have been exposed, so they are buying time by postponing the sessions even though two have been held since then where they are pushing their desires?", the workers ask in the letter.
The workers claim that the intention of minority shareholder Gačević is to sell OŽVS shares to Željeznica prevoz, that is, to the state, which is the majority owner, during the merger of the two companies. They state that because of this, share prices are jumping even though the company is doing worse and worse, and that in addition to the losses in the last three years, the share price went from 0,019 to the current 1,22 euros. They add that the Board consists of the president and a representative of the state capital Ljiljana Jokić Cap and representatives of state capital Igor Rackovic, Mensur Bosniak i Tihomir Bogavac, passively watch while, as they say, Gačević implements arbitrariness and dictatorship.
"The other members observe everything through the passive role they are used to, while the departmental Ministry of Capital Investments and the Government, which delegate these members to protect state interests, are silent about everything," the letter added.
The workers stated that it is incomprehensible to them that the state Maintenance, which needs a little help to overcome the crisis it is in, works on its own initiative to merge with the Railway Transport. They also add that OŽVS made a decision to amend the public procurement plan of 400 thousand euros for the purchase of equipment from its own sources, while at the same time they have tax obligations to "Montekargo" amounting to more than 700 thousand euros. The union also said that in addition to the bad financial situation, work is being done to rehabilitate the workshop in Nikšić, while a large part of the workers receive a minimum wage of 450 euros, and other railway companies increase their earnings through collective agreements.
"Gačević kept our collective agreement in a drawer for five months, even though the relevant ministry asked for it to be delivered," workers claim.
"What does the CEO do?"
In the letter, the workers claim that since the management of Maintenance was taken over by the political movement URA, the executive director is only a titular position, who will be immediately replaced by Gačević and Kapa in case of ineligibility.
"Lukšić, who is expected to take a position as executive director, consults the minority shareholder for everything, with whom she goes on fictitious business trips from Sunday and mutually helps each other for personal benefits," the workers state in the memo.
The union said that new workers are still being hired in Maintenance and Railway Transport, although there is talk of a surplus of 48 of them. They explain that while the two companies were one unit, about 400 workers were employed, and that after the separation in 2011 About 200 people moved to Maintenance, while Railway Transport still has close to 400 employees today.
"Maintenance has the highest number of executors in the last ten years, although the work process is decreasing," the workers state in the letter.
The state-owned OŽVS previously told "Vijesta" that the company is in major financial and technological problems and that they have a debt for taxes and contributions of 4,5 million euros, on which they have a daily interest of 1,1 thousand euros. At that time, they said that it was about improving the business and that a financial and economic analysis was also being done.
In the letter, the workers reiterate that the hiring of consultants for the work on the analysis violated the Law on Public Procurement because the procedure was divided into four contracts with an amount of about eight thousand euros. OŽVS previously clarified that a tender was not required for the analysis, but professors from the Faculty of Economics were engaged, under the system of work contracts.
Promises fell into the water
"All the promises of the Board of Directors, that is, of the minority shareholder, made in the previous year fall into the water, so there is nothing from the recapitalization, the pompously terminated contract on leasing the train maintenance hall. In the meantime, a new contract has not been concluded, so the hall is being used without any paperwork, there is nothing even from the promised help to pay pensioners back contributions in order to achieve a full pension, while their own funds are being planned for the purchase of new equipment and the pensioners are waiting", claim representatives of the workers .
The letter states that the only success of the company is the higher price of services, which is accompanied by a higher increase in costs and especially wages due to the larger number of employees, so the positive effect is neutralized. The workers claim that there is still no answer despite all efforts to reach a meeting of the Board of Directors, where the collective agreement will be amended to protect the rights of workers.
"This only confirms that they are not listening to the problem and leads to the conclusion of a contrived scenario that the minority shareholder is trying to implement for the sake of achieving personal interests," the workers added.
They said that in the previous days they had two scheduled meetings with the executive director, so that she could inform them about the economic analysis and the potential dismissal for 48 of them, but that Lukšić did not appear at any of them.
There is no redundancy of 48 workers
The management of OŽVS previously told "Vijesta" that the information about the redundancy of 48 workers is not correct because the economic analysis has not yet been completed.
"We made the decision on the analysis and informed the MKI, while their representative was at the Board session. A tender was not required for the analysis, but eminent professors from the Faculty of Economics were engaged under the system of work contracts", the OŽVS explained at the time.
They said that they decided on an additional analysis on joining ŽPCG because it used to be a single company, while the other option was bankruptcy. They added that it is known what happens to workers in bankruptcy and that it would threaten about 190 jobs without paid taxes and contributions, as well as the functioning of railway traffic.
Based on the information presented by the Union, they said that it is frivolous to prejudge the results of the analysis and that the position of the Board of Directors and MKI is that every worker must be protected, that they are making efforts to avoid bankruptcy and provide a better future for the company and the railway.
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