The application of the Branch Collective Agreement (GKU) for housing and utilities, concluded on October 18 last year, already hints at serious financial problems in the Kolašin companies "Komunalno" and "Vodovod i Kanalizacija".
The total amounts necessary for employees' salaries are now higher than 12 months ago and by more than 50 percent, which, according to the directors, would be a challenge even for much more powerful companies. This, as they explain, is especially evident in the light of the fact that the prices of some services have not changed for a long time, and some have even become cheaper.
With the application of GKU, in the company "Vodovod i kanalizacija", the amount needed for wages increased by more than 50 percent, explains the executive director. Milos Pekovic. It is on a monthly level, he says, about 10.000 euros in gross amount. At the same time, he reminds, by adopting prices based on the methodology of the Agency for Energy and Regulated Utilities, the price of water has been reduced by about 1 percent since January 35.
"The fact that in January the amount of the total amount of invoiced water will be less than the amount of gross earnings by more than 10.000 euros speaks volumes about the extremely difficult financial situation in which the company will find itself in the current year, both because of the adoption of the branch collective and because of the regulator. Taking into account the fact that, in accordance with the Law on Communal Activities, the company cannot engage in other activities, except for the service of water delivery and waste water removal, the price of which must be approved by the regulator, and on the expenditure side the amount of earnings is determined by the Ministry, clearly is how difficult it is to maintain the financial stability of a company", says Peković for "Vijesti".
The company has 29 employees, a third of whom are in the service of protection and security of spring and reservoir facilities.
With the application of GKU, the lowest net salary in "Vodovodu i kanalizacija" in Kolasin is now 600 euros. In addition to the director, a few other employees receive the highest salary of around 1.050 euros.
As the executive director of "Komunalno" told "Vijesta" Dusan Simović, in that company the difference in the amount for wages between December 2022 and December last year is 54,5 percent, i.e. 12 in gross, and slightly more than 000 euros in net amount.
"Bearing in mind that from January 2023 until the application of the new GKU in November, the calculation value of the coefficient was slightly higher, and taking as reference data the month in which I became the executive director, the data show that the difference between the March and December salary is somewhat more than 8.700 euros, or 33 percent in the gross amount. That is about 7.000 euros in net amount. The aforementioned increase in wages is, I'm sure, a serious blow to the finances of any company, especially ours, bearing in mind that the prices we charge for services are from the time when wages were much lower, when the price of fuel was almost twice as low... Also, we have to take inflation into account during that period," explains Simović.
He reminds that this is the current difficulty of all municipalities and companies affected by GKU.
Simović, however, also promises that, regardless of the situation they are in, they will try to "pay all the obligations of the company regularly, as well as that the workers' salaries are always on time". He expects, as he says, "the selfless help of the Municipality as the founder and president of the Municipality with his closest collaborators".
At the end of last year, the Union of Municipalities of Montenegro submitted an initiative for the evaluation of the constitutionality and legality of the GKU. As they explained, the application of GKU at the local level could lead to bankruptcy in a large number of municipal companies that perform housing and communal services.
They reminded, among other things, that the municipalities did not participate in the conclusion of the GKU, nor did they have the opportunity to comment on it, which, they say, is their basic right guaranteed by the European Charter on Local Self-Government and the Law on Local Self-Government.
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