The Internal Control Service of the Airports of Montenegro (ACG) received a report this week requesting an investigation into the union activities of the presidents of the union organizations of the Podgorica and Tivat airports, Slobodan Martinović and Ljubiša Džudović, of which the executive director of the state-owned company Roko Tolić was officially notified.
The report, which "Vijesti" has access to, was filed jointly by the presidents of two other trade union organizations - the Independent ACG Union, headed by Milivoje Dragićević, and the ACG Union, whose president is Damjan Radulović.
The complaint claims, among other things, that the trade union organizations of the Podgorica and Tivat airports are not registered with the competent Ministry of Labor, that they use the rules of procedure for the work of JAT trade union organizations, that there is no data in the register on the re-election of Martinović and Džudović in the past four years, that there are no statutes of these trade union organizations in the ministry's archives, which is a legal obligation... The allegations in the complaint are supported by documentation for the claims made, part of which was obtained under the Law on Free Access to Information from the Ministry of Economic Development.
The independent ACG union was founded in December last year and, according to documentation that "Vijesti" has access to, on January 9, the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Dialogue notified it that it had been entered into the Register of Trade Union Organizations based on all the necessary documentation it had submitted. After that, according to documentation that "Vijesti" has access to, this union also became a member of the Union of Independent Trade Unions (USS), of which the ACG union is a member, with whom it signed an agreement on joint action.
Dragićević and Radulović informed Tolić, Minister of Transport Maja Vukićević and President of the Board of Directors of ACG Jelena Maraš about the joint activities of their organizations and, as can be seen from the documentation, meetings were requested with all of them to, among other things, present an action plan for the realization of the goals they had set.
At the beginning of November last year, ACG officially informed the public that they had signed a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with Martinović and Džudović.
The Government is also expected to make a decision regarding the tender for the concession of ACG, on which the fate of the company's employees depends.
"Vijesti" is awaiting answers to questions from Tolić, Martinović and Džudović regarding the report filed with the Internal Control Service.
Criminal charges are also expected.
The application to the Internal Control Service provided details and several documents about the election of Martinović and Džudović to these positions.
The application states, among other things, that in 2013 the public company ACG was transformed into a joint-stock company in which the Government is 100% the owner and after 2020 the unions in question (the Podgorica and Tivat trade union organizations) apply the rules on the work methods of the Podgorica JAT Airport and JAT Tivat Airport trade union organizations for the organization and method of work, which is formally legally untenable and unequivocally indicates the unlawful behavior of ACG employees.
It is further stated that in the part relating to the Statute of the trade union organizations of Podgorica and Tivat, the competent ministry finds that the Statute is not in its possession because the Rulebook on the Registration of Trade Union Organizations, among other things, stipulates that entry in the Register is made on the basis of an application for entry, with which the trade union organization submits the Statute and rules on organization and method of work...
"We have learned from a certain number of members of representative organizations that they do not remember that in the last 10 years there was a re-election for the president of the trade union and all bodies of trade union organizations, for which we cite as an argument the fact that Slobodan Martinović and Ljubiša Džudović were legally obliged to submit a decision on re-election if they were re-elected, which they did not submit even after 2020 to the competent Ministry in accordance with Article 5, paragraph 3 of the Regulation on the Registration of Trade Union Organizations...", the application states.
The report also states that criminal proceedings will be initiated with the aim of determining criminal liability before the competent institutions - the Police Directorate, SDT, ODT; Ombudsman, Agency for the Prevention of Corruption..., as well as against anyone who, from the moment the report is filed, enables any further unlawful action by the presidents of illegitimate representative unions.
Joint action
In an official statement submitted to "Vijesti", signed by Dragićević, the independent trade union ACG states that it has made a decision to join the branch trade union of transport activities of Montenegro at the USSCG as a representative national trade union headquarters, based on the Agreement on Cooperation and Joint Action with the ACG Trade Union, which is one of the founders of the aforementioned branch trade union.
"We emphasize that the trade union association module resulted in the adoption of an Action Plan of activities on establishing measures and actions for the realization of the goals of the associated trade union organizations. All with the aim of creating a quality trade union organization at the ACG level, which would have the strength to stop the decades-long collapse of the status of employees and public interest. We give absolute support to the Executive Director Roko Tolić, in order to establish social dialogue and create a favorable environment for ACG's business. All those who have shown with an honest approach that they want the good of the general and public interest are welcome. We also ask all employees at ACG to check in the coming days which trade union organizations they are members of. After numerous checks, we came to the data that many employees are registered with representative trade unions that carry out trade union activities in an illegitimate manner, based on whose indications the associated trade union organization has taken measures and actions defined by the strategy in the Action Plan on establishing measures and actions in the realization of trade union goals," said Dragićević.
"The statement points out that "the existing representative union, during its action or inaction in the past period, has proven to be one of the main culprits for the current position of ACG employees."
"Regarding the issue in question, the trade union organization reacted by submitting a report to the Internal Control Service to suppress the illegal activities and behavior of existing illegitimate unions, which is the basic and essential competence of this Service. The new unified trade union organization will have sufficient competence, knowledge and skills to, in order to protect the general and public interest, and within the framework of the law, force changes on all those who have been ignoring the poor position of ACG employees for years. Until now, coincidentally or not, the ACG Trade Union, represented by authorized representative Damjan Radulović, has not had the power to conduct systemic negotiations, or to sign a collective bargaining agreement, in its institution," the statement reads.
Drašković was also asked to examine the legitimacy of union representatives
According to the documentation, which "Vijesti" has access to, Radulović also requested in writing from Vladan Drašković, who was acting director of ACG in August 2022, to determine the legitimacy of the union representatives in the company.
"This is primarily because there is a continuity of abuse of union representatives in the part where cases of false representation have been registered in the process of collective bargaining, but also in other forms of social dialogue, that is, employees presenting themselves as authorized union representatives, even though they were not," the letter states, noting that this enters the zone of criminal liability.
Will support all workers' rights that are in accordance with the law
The letter to Tolić, signed by Dragićević, stated that the trade union organizations represented by him and Radulović regarding the concession will not enter the domain of jurisdiction of the employer's management structure and the Government in the part of the concession procedure that has been initiated and the decision-making on the concession.
"We emphasize that we have confidence in you and your management of the company, and we will make maximum efforts to implement the action plan that defines the strategy for establishing measures and actions to realize the goals of the NSACG and SACG envisaged for the purpose of establishing social dialogue and creating a favorable environment for employees, in accordance with the law, all with the aim of achieving the general interest of employees, the employer and the Government, whether concessions or not," the letter states.
As stated, we plan to submit the opinion on the concession to the Board of Directors of ACG, the relevant ministry, the President of the Government Commission for Concession, the parliamentary caucuses, as well as the Presidents of the Government, the State and the Parliament.
The union thanked Tolić in a letter for inviting them to the meeting.
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