The president of the "Parking Servis Podgorica" trade union, Milan Aligrudić, claims that employees at that city company are being marked and divided into "obedient" and "disobedient", but also that he is exposed to daily open threats and blackmail.
"What is being done today in a public company is unprecedented in the history of democracy. This attitude towards workers and the largest union in Parking servis Podgorica has nothing to do with democracy. This is brute force, pressure and intimidation, according to the Info-biro matrix: mark, intimidate, trample. As the president of the Parking servis Podgorica doo trade union organization, I am exposed to daily open threats and blackmail to deny the truth in the media and sign lies about the supposedly good situation in the company. Silence is demanded of me. Obedience and humility are demanded. Betrayal of workers is demanded. Well, that will not happen. What additionally and deeply affects me is the direct interference of the director in the work of the trade union, which represents a gross violation of the most basic trade union rights and an open attack on the freedom of trade union organization and action," Aligrudić said.
It is also unprecedented, he said, that interpersonal relations have been "brought to an unprecedented state."
"When human dignity is trampled upon, only fear and division remain, and that is the environment in which workers are being tried to be managed today. Workers are being marked and divided into 'obedient' and 'disobedient'. They are being threatened with their existence, transfers, six-day workweeks, and the taking away of days off - not because of their work, but as a form of punishment for disobedience. This is not management. This is repression, blackmail, and mobbing. It goes a step further: it threatens to abolish workers' and union games, the only space for togetherness and solidarity. When management cannot break the workers, it tries to make them fight. The old folk saying is simple and clear to everyone: divide, then rule," adds Aligrudić.
At the same time, he claims, "a planned and organized induction of new employees into the union is being carried out, exclusively on the orders of the director," with the aim of "artificially disrupting union unity, destabilizing union action, and producing a docile majority." He says this represents an "open and illegal attempt" by the employer to directly influence the internal relations and work of the union organization.
"At the same time, there are threats of a fake union assembly, fake elections and a violent attempt to remove me as the legitimate president of the union who is not silent. This is not democracy. This is gross and illegal interference by the employer in the work of the union. The message is clear and short: we will not retreat in the face of obvious injustice, we will fight for the rights of employees. This is the largest union and it is backed by workers, not fear," the statement reads.
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