The strike committee of the trade union organization of the "Dr. Simo Milošević" Institute made a decision to postpone the announced strike for one month, i.e. until April 25, due, as could be heard at the press conference, to the assurance that the Government is working intensively to solve the accumulated problems. In accordance with that decision, the strike was also abandoned in the catering sector, reports RTV Herceg Novi.
As the President of the Trade Union Organization, Marija Obradović, said, the reasons for postponing the strike are based on the conclusions of the meeting of representatives of the Executive Board of the Trade Union and management with the Minister of Health, Vojislav Šimun, and the Deputy Prime Minister for Labour, Education, Health and Social Affairs, Srđan Pavićević.
"We have received assurances that the Government is working very intensively to ensure that bankruptcy is not an option, primarily through a series of stages, which include assistance to the Igalo Institute. First of all, we are talking about assistance in the rehabilitation of the Institute from the Government of Montenegro, which includes a financial injection of 10 million euros , which would primarily solve the problem of Jugobanka AD in bankruptcy, which has been blocking the account for more than two months now," she states.
Obradović informed that a reconstruction plan has been created for the next six months, which includes 30 million euros of investment in the name of these activities, as well as that all proposed solutions of the Commission for solving the status of the Institute are legally based.
Bankruptcy, as she said, would shut down the primary activity of the Institute, which would mean that more than five thousand patients, who are treated annually in Igalo, would lose that opportunity, and around 500 workers would lose their jobs.
The impression, after the announcement by the Agency for the Protection of Competition that the Government's aid of 1,36 million euros for the debt to Jugobanka was illegally sent, even though this money was never paid to the Institute, is that it is in someone's interest to introduce bankruptcy.
"The Igalo Institute has never withdrawn that money and therefore cannot be the subject of any bankruptcy proceedings. In the event that it occurs to anyone from the outside, now that the situation is being resolved, to initiate bankruptcy proceedings for this reason, we hope that competent authorities in Montenegro react adequately and prevent this possibility," she pointed out.
Despite the very bad situation, threatened existence due to late salaries, pressure from banks due to unpaid loan installments, problems due to unpaid bills and rent, restaurateurs decided to suspend the strike, says the representative of this sector, Olivera Đuratović.
"We realized the seriousness of the situation, we decided to be together. Now is the last moment for the workers to be together and overcome the crisis with each other. No one can stand out from this situation, neither a housewife without a caterer, nor a caterer without a physiotherapist , nor a therapist without a doctor. We are all here together as one team, which must now act in unison," she pointed out.
Regardless of the situation, the service remains the same, all therapists conscientiously and responsibly perform their tasks, says Jelena Bulatović from the physiotherapist sector.
"In addition to having the strongest weapon in our hands, which is knowledge, our biggest victory is when we see the patient return to his daily activities, that we helped him, but you must know that we all have a priority, and that is our family. We have to to be conscientious and responsible towards the family, that's why I say that therapists are on the edge of existence," she said.
In front of the technical service sector, Dragan Vlaović said that the work system is threatened, because the supply of materials has been suspended, workers no longer have the motivation to come to work, but the efforts of the authorities to resolve the situation inspire hope.
"We agree with our colleagues, we have given up the strike and we hope that with joint efforts we will achieve some improvement, but I would ask the citizens of all of Montenegro to help us and realize that they have nowhere to go for rehabilitation. If they lose this, they have lost everything." he said.
"Reason for optimism and pride", as stated, employees are also given messages of support from Norwegian patients, whose state program is being implemented in Turkey this year. According to the employees, the Norwegians announce that this season they will come to the Institute under their own direction, because "I can't find such a service" in other institutions.
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