RTCG Employees' Union: SDT launched an investigation into the criminal complaint we filed against management

The Special State Prosecutor's Office (SDT) recently launched an investigation into a criminal complaint filed against the management of Radio Television of Montenegro (RTCG) by the RTCG Employees' Union, due to non-transparent spending of money on employee variables, it was announced at a press conference by the union organization.

The RTCG employees' union organized a press conference on the occasion of, as they stated, anti-union discrimination being carried out against members of that union and the failure to sign the collective agreement.

It was announced at the conference that immediately after the investigation was launched, a new, unprecedented wave of pressure and intimidation of members of the RTCG Employees' Union followed, so that in just ten days, 16 members left the Union.

Member of the Executive Board of the RTCG Employees' Union, Snežana Radusinović, said that the subject of the report they filed in July was the non-transparent spending of money for employee variables and for the fees of external associates.

"Today, we can confirm the information that 735 thousand euros per year in gross amount is spent on variables, and over 400 thousand euros on external collaborators," said Radusinović.

She added that this is a huge sum of money that is being spent in a non-transparent manner, opening up a lot of room for misuse of budget money.

"Several reliable sources have confirmed to us that ten days ago, the SDT, acting on this report, launched an investigation into RTCG. Immediately after that, a new, unprecedented wave of pressure and intimidation of our members followed, so that in just ten days, 16 members left the Union," said Radusinović.

She said that on Friday they again contacted the Special State Prosecutor's Office, Chief Special State Prosecutor Vladimir Novović, about this matter.

"And we requested that the prosecutor's office, applying its jurisdiction and powers in legal proceedings, urgently take measures to protect us from management pressure," Radusinović added.

All of this, according to her, is directly related to the negotiations on increasing salaries at RTCG, which have been going on for more than a year.

The President of the RTCG Employees' Union, Eva Poleksić, said that at a recent meeting with representatives of the new union and management at the Ministry of Finance, they received information that the variables at the Public Service Broadcaster go up to two thousand euros.

"Due to such high privileged variables in the Public Service, management is in no hurry to increase salaries, while most employees, including media professionals, are still on the minimum wage," said Poleksić.

In addition, as she stated, not a single euro from last year's budget of 24,5 million, of which 900 thousand euros were planned for salary increases, was spent for that purpose.

Poleksić added that all the money was redirected to other purposes, to construction works and public procurement.

"Is the same scenario brewing for us this year, when the budget at RTCG amounts to 26,38 million euros," Poleksić asked.

She said that in November, after painful and lengthy negotiations, they agreed on new coefficients with representatives of management and the new union, but that they had already received a negative opinion from the Ministry of Finance three times regarding such a collective agreement.

"Although we sent a proposal for coefficients on December 30, which integrates the guidelines of the Ministry of Finance with the aim of preserving projected salaries, this proposal was not even considered by RTCG during January," said Poleksić.

She emphasized that the Ministry of Finance has expressed its readiness to provide an opinion on the innovative proposal for coefficients as soon as possible.

"But colleagues from the new union and management interpret the recommendations of the Ministry of Finance completely differently, so this is also an ideal scenario for delaying a salary increase that could last for months," said Poleksić.

She said that the pressures that their union has been exposed to for a year have culminated in recent days.

"And this is not only an attack on the legally guaranteed right to union action, but also on the negotiation process which, if we act according to the guidelines of the Ministry of Finance, can be completed as early as this week," Poleksić pointed out.

Radusinović emphasized that the key thing is that the coefficients at RTCG are in line with the principle of equal pay in the public sector for the same or similar jobs that require the same level of qualifications.

"Therefore, for a certain number of occupations, the proposed coefficients must be reduced," Radusinović stated.

She said that on December 30th, they made a proposal that has been pending consideration for a month, in conditions where the Ministry of Finance says it will provide feedback in one day.

"So, this is a big indicator that we are experiencing delays in these negotiations," said Radusinović.

She emphasized that it is very important to know that all three negotiating parties actually agree, at least in principle, to defend the projected salaries.

"Since they can no longer do this through coefficients, the Ministry of Finance proposes that for those professions whose coefficients will be corrected, a legal provision be applied that allows for supplements for certain professions, so that the salary would actually be increased by the percentage by which the coefficient would be reduced," Radusinović specified.

As she said, by implementing this model of the Ministry of Finance, salaries would be maintained at the projected amount for each RTCG employee.

"We are currently interpreting this model differently. You know how inconvenient different interpretations are in a situation like this, and they are simply fertile ground for the process to drag on indefinitely," Radusinović added.

The Secretary General of the Union of Free Trade Unions, Srđa Keković, reminded that the Criminal Code of Montenegro stipulates that any obstruction or prevention of the work of a trade union constitutes a criminal offense punishable by a fine or imprisonment of up to one year.

He said that today's press conference is an attempt to expose everything that has been done in recent months, as well as an attempt to reach out again to members who, in the meantime, "have resigned from membership under pressure."

"And of course, let's reach out to all those other employees to understand that, if they don't have an authentic union that is ready to bear the burden of union struggle, they won't have better working conditions in the period ahead," said Keković.

He said that, in addition to their salary, an individual can receive up to two thousand euros per month and that no one in the state takes this into account.