Some employers still refuse to sign the Sectoral Collective Agreement (GKU) with the Media Union and provide employees with a better socio-economic status, despite the fact that the national Media Strategy scheduled the adoption of that document for the second quarter of 2024.
According to the strategy, coefficients for media employees were finally to be defined last year, and a preferential length of service for journalists and other workers who perform work with a high level of risk was to be established. The salaries of media workers, as envisaged by the strategic goal of the Action Plan for the period 2023-2024, were to increase by 30 percent this year.
The Ministry of Culture and Media told "Vijesti" that they encourage employers and the Union to reach an agreement. They said that they respect the Union's position that the future of the media lies with the employees and that the GKU should be adopted as soon as possible.
Union: The other side does not want an agreement
Vice President of the Media Union Marijana Camović Veličković claims that they have been trying to negotiate the GKU for the media sector since 2017 and that they have offered several texts as a starting point for negotiations. He explains that the first negotiations lasted about a year, only to be abruptly terminated by the employers' decision, because they allegedly could no longer reach a consensus among themselves, and after that, he claims, they were rejected after one or two meetings.
"We modified the texts several times in accordance with the suggestions of the employers who were in the negotiating team of the Union of Businessmen, but all attempts were unsuccessful because the other side simply did not want an agreement," explained Camović Velicković.
She says that the Media Union is now working on a new text that they will resubmit to the Employers' Union, but with no hope of success due to the previous multiple bad experiences.
"It is important to say that we never managed to get to the point of discussing salaries, as the most important part of any collective agreement, because some provisions concerning things that do not require money were unacceptable to them," claims Camović Velicković, explaining that they asked that the working day not last non-stop, but that a way be found so that employees do not exhaust themselves to the limit and have time for some kind of private life. The employers did not allow that either, she claims, even though the issue is regulated by the Labor Law, which "obviously does not apply to the media industry."
Some media outlets dispute salary increases and severance pay levels
The Employers' Union told "Vijesti" that they had been conducting negotiations for years, but that the essential disagreement was over the Union's insistence that the GKU regulate issues that, in their opinion, by their nature cannot be the subject of collective bargaining, but rather of special laws.
They claim that due to the complex and lengthy procedure for amending the law, the legal importance of collective agreements should not be neglected, as they allow for faster responses in the field of regulating certain issues related to labor relations, which is of great importance in market economy conditions.
"Previously, positions were agreed on most of the contentious issues, but some media outlets expressed reservations about the issue of salary increases and the amount of severance pay and requested time for additional analysis of the impact of the aforementioned items on the companies' operations, because at that moment it was not financially sustainable for many of them. Therefore, although there was agreement among negotiators on certain issues, major differences still remained in the negotiation processes regarding the issue of salary increases and the amount of severance pay," the Employers' Union states.
They point out that everyone must be aware of their roles in the negotiation process, and be prepared to stand behind the positions expressed and decisions made, both individual and joint, due to their influence on numerous processes in the future.
"The Employers' Union of Montenegro remains open to all initiatives, which it will approach very responsibly and in agreement with its membership, however, the negotiating will of all actors in the negotiation process is necessary in order for an agreement to be reached," the response reads.
Despite the Fund, there are no effects on employees
Camović Velicković said that signing the GKU obligation stemmed from the Media Strategy, but she believes that it was easily delegated to them.
"We asked the Ministry of Culture and Media to join the negotiations as an equal party because, in addition to the 850 people employed by the state in RTCG, there are also around 450 employees in local public broadcasters founded by municipalities. They said they were not competent, even though de facto more than half of salaries in the media are paid from state money. Through the Fund for Encouraging Media Pluralism and Diversity and other permanent benefits, the financial situation in the media has improved significantly, and will only improve from this year, when the amount of the Fund has been increased several times. The effect on employees is persistently lacking, because no one asks why and where that money actually goes," believes Camović Večković.
She claims that they have repeatedly stated, through examples, that private media owners are allowed to do anything when it comes to their relationship with their employees and that existing rules do not apply to them.
"Perhaps the best example of poor treatment of employees is the situation in which correspondents are. These are people who cover everything that happens in a city, every day. They often cover several cities, especially in the north of the country, most often for the minimum wage and a fee, and they are essential to the editorial offices because if they don't send the news, the editorial office doesn't have it. They work without a week's rest, annual leave, holidays... Employers are aware of this, but they don't want to change it. It's similar with photojournalists, of whom there are only 10 to 15 left in the entire industry, and we have at least 230 media outlets," concluded Camović Večković.
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