Božović: Another wrong step by the director, the "Solidarno" cooperative refuses to cooperate with the Ministry of National Defense and hides key business data

The President of the Education Trade Union of Montenegro (SPCG), Radomir Božović, said that the reaction of the director of the Housing Cooperative of Education Workers "Solidarno", Zoran Stanišić, represents a substitution of theses, discrediting the Trade Union and avoiding the essence of the problem, for which, he claims, the Trade Union has been seeking answers for years without success.

In response to Stanišić's reaction, Božović stated that the Education Union, following a letter from the Secretariat of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MPNI) Marko Šljukić regarding the initiative to amend the cooperative rules, acted responsibly and transparently, and that it invited the management of the Cooperative to a meeting and held sessions of its bodies.

"We did not receive a response from the Cooperative, from the director and the president of the Board of Directors, nor any willingness for dialogue, so there was no harmonization of positions," said Božović.

We are quoting Božović's answer in its entirety:

"Regarding the reaction of the director of the Housing Cooperative of Education Workers "Solidarno", Mr. Zoran Stanišić, to the text published on the portal and in the daily newspaper Vijesti, dated 7 June 2026, I must say that his address abounds with a series of substitutions of theses, discrediting the Education Union and avoiding the essence of the problems that the Union has been talking about for years, but without receiving an answer. For the wrong moves that the director is making, and which are obvious, he would like to shift the blame onto the Union with cheap statements.

After a letter from the Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MESI), Mr. Marko Šljukić, regarding the "Initiative for amending the Cooperative Rules of the Housing Cooperative of Teachers "Solidarno", we at the Education Union reacted responsibly and transparently. We invited the management of the Cooperative to a meeting, and held sessions of the Executive and Main Boards of the Education Union. We did not receive a response from the Cooperative, from the director and the president of the Management Board, nor did we receive any willingness for dialogue, so there was no harmonization of positions with the representatives of the Cooperative. At the meetings of the Executive and Main Boards of the Education Union, we made a decision (by a large majority of those present) that the Executive and Main Boards support the proposals of the MESI, arguing that cooperation with the MESI on this issue (as well as the representatives of the MESI themselves, who will be in the governing bodies of the Cooperative), can only improve the work of the Cooperative.

Everything I said at the Assembly of Cooperatives, on Saturday, June 6, 2026, were only the positions conveyed from the meetings of the Union bodies. I expressed concern about further cooperation and possible deterioration of relations with the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation, and that the refusal of the cooperatives to the offered cooperation is a slap in the face to the Ministry, which is the essence of the story. I asked publicly how we will pay loans to educational workers (currently 1,200,000 euros are due for payment) and build buildings, if we refuse to cooperate with the Ministry. We see cooperation with the Ministry as a new step forward in the work of the Cooperative and a strengthening of its position when seeking free land and exemption from utilities when building apartments for educational workers. The Union cannot bear any responsibility for the consequences of the Assembly of Cooperatives.

In the Union, for years, we have not been able to obtain basic information about the Cooperative's operations. The number of cooperative members has been hidden from the public for years, income from membership fees and loan repayments has been an official secret for the Education Union. We have never learned from the director, nor does anyone else, how much the cooperative has paid off loans from the money it has earned in previous years.

We are convinced that by having representatives of the Ministry join the governing bodies of the Cooperative, we could find out:

• How much money did the Cooperative earn from membership fees and loan repayments in the past three years?
• How many loans have been distributed to cooperative members from these revenues in the past three years?
• What are the cooperative's monthly expenses and what are its obligations to banks, contractors, and other business partners?
• Based on which legal regulation and based on whose decision, was the Director's Advisor employed, under a service contract, and secretly included in the Board of Directors of the Cooperative at the Assembly of 6 June 2026? Does the Cooperative need this expense of around 600 euros (gross) per month, when the Cooperative has not laid the cornerstone for a single building in ten years, but is only involved in granting loans from money provided by the Union and given by the Ministry?
• Based on which legal act was the central Commission for the allocation of loans formed, when loans are allocated by committees formed in institutions, and the aforementioned advisor, who until yesterday was not a member of the Cooperative's Board of Directors, was appointed to head the commission.
• How was more than two million euros of cooperative funds spent during the construction of the building in Budva to cover losses, and how were annexes to the contract (harmful to the cooperative) concluded that the Municipality of Budva did not want to sign?

And more.

Instead of accepting cooperation with the Ministry, the director organizes the cooperative members to reject the proposal, convincing them that the Ministry is obliged to pay the Cooperative money, and that they distribute it (almost) without any control. Now the thesis is being put forward that the proposal was not rejected by the Ministry of Education and Training, but that a model of cooperation that suits the interests of the Cooperative will be offered. The educators are convinced that the entry of representatives of the Ministry of Education and Training into the management bodies would abolish the autonomy in the work of the Cooperative and that the Ministry of Education and Training, in cooperation with the Union, would have supremacy in the Cooperative. How is this possible, when 9 representatives of the cooperative members in the Board of Directors are larger than the 6 that the Ministry of Education and Training and the Union would have (4 representatives of the Ministry of Education and Training and 2 representatives of the Union). Falsehoods are being spread that the entry of representatives of the Ministry of Education and Training into the Cooperative would be contrary to the laws, which is absolutely untrue. The Cooperative is for the cooperative members, the director emphasizes, and he does not want to say that the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Training in the Board of Directors of the Cooperative must be cooperative members. Therefore, all the representatives in the Board of Directors of the Cooperative would be - cooperative members, educators.

The gist of the story is that by joining the Cooperative's Board of Directors, representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture, with their integrity and authority of the institution they represent, would be able to ask questions and seek information that some would not like. Full control and order would be introduced into the work of the Cooperative, both in terms of making business decisions and in terms of spending and distributing money.

At the Cooperative Assembly, which was held on June 6, 2026, we heard some frightening information that discredits the work of the Cooperative and its top management.

1. Nihad Kršić, the now dismissed president of the Cooperative Assembly, claimed that he was blackmailed into resigning, and in return he was paid a loan of 15000 euros. He also stated this at the meeting of the Main Board of the Cooperative of Montenegro held on 29 May 2026 (there is also an audio recording), where he said that he was sorry that his loan was paid out of order.
2. Did the director abuse his official authority here and is this a kind of blackmail – a loan for resignation? Are there elements here for a prosecutor?
3. Is Nihad Kršić the only cooperative member who received a loan in 2026 from the funds generated by the Cooperative based on membership fees and loan repayments?
4. We have seen how the president of the Cooperative Assembly is removed without procedure, without discussion and presentation of reasons for resignation, without an agenda item, and how he is prevented from explaining his resignation. We have seen how, without a formal initiative (there was none in the materials for the Assembly), the number of cooperative members on the Board of Directors is increased from 7 to 9.
5. We learned that the director of the Cooperative forbade the former president of the Assembly from sending an invitation from the Cooperative's official email to Mr. Marko Šljukić, Secretary of the Ministry of National Education and Science, so the invitation arrived from a private email.

It is clear that this is not about the general interest and the interest of the cooperative members, but exclusively about personal interest. By protecting the Cooperative and the cooperative members from the Ministry, the director protects his monthly salary of almost 3,000 (three thousand) euros (the salaries of the three permanent employees of the Cooperative in the previous year were over 78,000 euros in gross); the official vehicle is used for the director's personal purposes non-stop, over 2000 euros of cooperative money annually for fuel, granting loans outside the rules and procedures, etc.

Anyone who works transparently and in accordance with the law has no reason to fear scrutiny, least of all from representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science on the Cooperative's Board of Directors.

However, now that he has realized that refusing the hand extended for cooperation by the MPNI is turning friends into enemies, the director is trying to minimize the damage by shifting the responsibility to the Union.

We are used to insults and gossip from the director. The cooperative has become a haven for all those who do not think well of the president Radomir Božović or the Union itself – it is the same for them. The Statute of the Union, initiatives and our proposals are flatly rejected or ignored by the bodies of the Cooperative. We remind all educational workers that the Cooperative was founded on the initiative of the Union, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, back in 2002. The Union has provided over 10 million euros to the cooperative members and will continue to provide it. But, we must know how the money is spent and where it all ends up. Thanks to a certain control of the Education Union (only through the Agreement with the Government), the cooperative members have received nearly one and a half million euros through loans in the past two years, which has significantly contributed to the increase in the number of cooperative members.

The Education Union has shown in the past that it has both the knowledge and courage to fight for the interests of educational workers. But we cannot afford to take to the streets to defend the personal interests of the director of the Cooperative and a few people close to him.

"Regardless of everything, the Education Union will, as before, do everything in our power to obtain new ones from the Ministry, according to the Sectoral Collective Agreement for the field of education, so that they reach the cooperative members and end up in the right hands," said Božović.