Union of Free Trade Unions protests begin, Keković: Salary increase awaits elections

The Union of Free Trade Unions of Montenegro (USSCG) has begun daily, one-hour protests that will symbolically begin at 5 a.m. to 12 p.m. for the next 15 days.

They want to send a message to the Government that they are not giving up on the fight for a new General Collective Agreement.

The Secretary General of the USSCG, Srđa Keković, said that since December last year the union has been waiting for the Government's response to the proposal for a new General Collective Agreement, which calls for higher job complexity coefficients and a new calculation value of the coefficient, reports Mediabiro.

According to him, the Government has been asking for additional time in the previous eight months to offer, as it stated, a better model, but has not done so to date.

Keković said that the Prime Minister, at several joint meetings, accepted the trade union's arguments that wages need to be increased, stating that the effects of the "Europe Now 1" and "Europe Now 2" programs have been reduced due to inflation, and that Montenegro expects an additional exodus of labor to meet European integration.

He, however, assessed that these promises remained only words.

"The Government of Montenegro is directly to blame for the fact that more than 100.000 employees currently do not have a General Collective Agreement in force," said Keković, adding that, as he claims, workers are left without additional protection of their rights as a result.

Keković rejected claims that the Union was seeking a wage increase exclusively for public sector employees, stressing that the demands encompassed both the public and private sectors. He said that the Government has not yet presented the alternative model it had previously announced.

Over the next 15 days, recorded messages addressed to the Government will be broadcast daily, Mediabiro reports.

If there is no progress in the negotiations in the meantime, the Union of Free Trade Unions has announced new protest activities in September. Keković expressed doubt that the Government will postpone the wage increase until the period before the next political elections.