The Administration and Judiciary Union of Montenegro has sent a letter to the Government calling on them to urgently begin negotiations on fulfilling seven demands by February 20th at the latest or they will organize a series of protests starting March 6th.
The list of demands and the preliminary decision on the protests were adopted by the Assembly of this branch union on February 5th, and were sent to the Government today.
"The key challenges we face relate to improving material working conditions, resolving housing issues, as well as a number of other issues of essential importance for the dignified work and life of employees. The complete absence of social dialogue and the continued ignoring of our Union by the leaders of the Government have forced us to take radical steps, which is why the same session of the Parliament adopted a Decision on the conditional organization of a series of protests, the first of which will be held on March 6, 2025 at 15:30 p.m. in front of the Government building. The protests will be organized if the responsible Government officials do not begin negotiations with the aim of reaching an agreement by February 20.02.2025, XNUMX at the latest," the union stated.
Their demands are the urgent signing of the agreed Annex to the Agreement of the Housing Cooperative "Responsibility", the constitution of the Cooperative's bodies and the commencement of its work, so that the employees finally have the opportunity to resolve their housing issues.
The second request is to initiate negotiations on amendments to the Sectoral Collective Agreement, with the aim of increasing job complexity coefficients by 10% in 2024 and an additional 10% in 2025.
They also demand the withdrawal of the draft Law on Salaries, the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, the Law on Local Servants and Officials, the mandatory participation of all representatives of representative branch unions in the working group for the drafting of the Law on the Representativeness of Trade Unions and Employers' Associations, as well as the adoption of solutions that have been agreed upon through all working groups, with full transparency and the elimination of the "autocratic approach to decision-making."
The request also calls for amendments to the Law on Internal Trade and the Law on Consumer Protection, with the aim of regulating margins on the domestic market and protecting the economic stability of citizens.
They are also seeking amendments to the Law on Strikes, in order to provide employees in Montenegro with the right to strike, which is denied to them by the current legal solution.
They are also demanding the resignation of the Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Dialogue, Naida Nišić, due to, as they allege, illegal activities and a number of other irregularities in her work.
The seventh demand is the introduction of a seven-hour working day, in accordance with modern labor standards and the protection of employee rights, as well as the publicly made promise.
"Disrespect for signed and prescribed acts, primarily through the example of the constitution and start of work of the Housing Cooperative Odgovornost, founded by the Government of Montenegro and the Union of Administration and Judiciary. Rejection of the imperative increase in coefficients for 2024 and 2025, where the narrative is about discrimination in relation to other collective agreements, with the example of employees in the Parliament of Montenegro, whose salaries are at least 200 euros higher for all identical titles and educational qualifications, then employees in education where our salaries are 150 euros lower compared to them, etc. We demand the elimination of the autocratic and non-transparent writing and shaping of the most important laws that crucially affect the material and working position of employees in public administration and the judiciary, as well as bringing order to the hyper-growth of prices and inflation, which is much higher than officially presented," the union announced.
They demand participation in the work of working groups for drafting laws on strikes and union representation.
"Despite the fact that the Branch Collective Agreement stipulates that it is mandatory, Minister Naida Nišić, in addition to a number of other illegal actions, consciously continues with the same, and then continues to attack the Union of Administration and Judiciary and the interests of our membership. For numerous reasons, we demand the unconditional dismissal of the Minister of Labor, Employment and Social Dialogue, and we emphasize one in particular, that with the same person, social dialogue towards the largest branch union consciously does not exist.
Dear representatives of the Government, please finally fulfill the public promise of a seven-hour working day. The great dissatisfaction of employees in the most numerous public sector has culminated in the unequal relationship in terms of salary levels between civil service ranks, which is caused by the 'Europe Now 2' program, and then in the drastically reduced purchasing power primarily caused by the devaluation of the euro. The fear and accumulated fear of all public sector workers is the incredibly huge state borrowing and future liquidity, but when we see where the money of citizens and us workers is being spent, we claim that the funds for all our material demands must be provided," the union stated.
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