New Waterworks Union: Business is not a consequence of Nišavić's skills, but a result of rising water prices

The new union "Water Supply and Sewerage" Podgorica announced that they are pleased that the company is operating with a profit for the first six months of this year, emphasizing that "this is not a consequence of the managerial skills" of executive director Aleksandar Nišavić, "but rather the result of the increase in the price of water" - nine percent in 2024, and 2025 percent in 41, which is a cumulative increase in the last two years compared to 2023 of 53,68 percent.

Nišavić, responding to the union yesterday, announced that good management had avoided the possibility of bankruptcy in the company, and that operations had been stabilized.

"Mr. Nišavić, we cannot be hurt by the results of the society where we have been working for 15, 20, 25 and more years, because it is 'our' society. You came 'yesterday' and are here for a mandate, and we have tied our lives and those of our families to, I guess, 'our' common society. You probably know that the Administration Building, calibration lab, laboratory, auxiliary facilities in 'our' business area, dozens of wells, the Mareza water source, kilometers of pipelines, etc. did not grow by themselves. The workers of the Waterworks worked, and sometimes they made mistakes. It will not be that everything was catastrophic before you, water was regularly delivered to our esteemed fellow citizens, it seems to us with much fewer interruptions and better quality," the New Union's response states.

They add that Nišavić himself boasts of reassigning 88 employees, with 64 disciplinary proceedings and five dismissals.

"With your address, you only confirmed that all our previous statements were supported by true facts. As we have informed the public and the authorities (who unfortunately are still not reacting), such actions of yours have caused an outflow of highly educated and other professional staff. All of the above is the reason for our address to Mayor Mujović. This has resulted in around 140 lawsuits against 'our' company, which will cause significant costs to 'our' company, so we ask the authorities - who will bear responsibility for the consequences of your arbitrariness and disrespect for the laws of Montenegro. We do not dispute that the company is operating with a profit for the first 6 months of 2025, which we are extremely pleased about, but we must again tell you that this is not a consequence of your managerial skills, but the result of the increase in the price of water, in 2024 - 9 percent, and in 2025 - 41 percent, which is a cumulative increase in the last two years compared to 2023 by 53,68 percent. This will result in an increase in revenue of five to six million euros with the same expenses, so it is simply impossible not to operate with a profit."

The statement emphasizes that all of this is owed to the citizens "who will bear the burden of your successful governance."

"But everything you stated in your statement makes us extremely happy, because we hope that you have finally started, after almost two years of your mandate, to pay us our salaries in full. We take this opportunity to inform you that our salary is not only in net amount, but the Law guarantees us the payment of gross salary, which has not been the case in 'our' company since you arrived as the executive director. Before you, this was a sporadic case, and with your arrival it has become the rule. Since you are already bragging about business results, which are exclusively the result of a 53 percent increase in the price of water compared to 2023, we would like to remind you that in September 2023, immediately before your arrival, 'our' company, according to the statement of the then deputy mayor, Mr. Šaranović, had liabilities on all grounds of 5,5 million euros; and according to the final account of 2024, during your management, 10,7 million euros. We also suggest that by settling liabilities based on taxes and contributions on employee salaries "You have saved 'our' company hundreds of thousands of euros in default interest, if you don't already consider that to be your obligation. It was not our intention to comment on the company's business results, but for the sake of objectively informing the public we considered it necessary," the statement from the New Union "Water Supply and Sewerage" reads.