workers on strike in Serbia
by - 17.07.2004 16:21
fantastic and never seen before: in serbia, free and independent trade union association representative speaks frankly about the thing that is "secretly" known for a long time, i.e. that the government is giving instructions to the union about directing workers'moderation and termination of strikes! short passage for trade- union biographies unions as etatic mechanisms and enemies of the workers'struggles, i.e. unions as ideological aparatus of the state, without any differences. in serbia and elsewhere.
enough
"Blic", July 5, 2004: SERBIA AWAITS MASSIVE STRIKES
R. Markovic
There is a huge wave of strikes happening in Serbia in the last few days. First the railway union started one-hour strike, and then displeased arms -producers came to Belgrade, while on the same day two health unions started their strikes. The educational workers have given the public information about their intention to start strikes in the coming fall. Who is next and does this line of aforementioned strikes suggests how "hot union fall" will start earlier this year, or does all of this suggests minute flares that will be eased down in no time?
The strike wave is, according to unions'representatives, clear consequence of the workers'poor economic situation, including the absence of social dialogue between the governmentıs representatives and the workers. If the social dialogue functioned better, the problems would be solved in a different way, which all indicates that the strikes would be lessening, suggest the workers.
Ranka Savic, president of the Free and Independent Unions Association,
states in her interview for the "Blic" how "strikes represent logical
consequence of the government work and the fact that, even after the
continuation of the restructuring of the organizations process, not one new social program has been introduced".
She thinks that strikes that are still solitary will escalate as soon as the holiday season ends, at the end of August and at the beginning of September.
"When discussing the issues with us, premier and ministers are insisting
that money sources from the budget are insufficient and request from us to
be patient and to appease the workers. Maybe we, unions' representatives,
could afford to be patient as they require, but this demand is impossible
for the workers. Only now the fact about organization buying and
privatization becomes known: according to the data we have, in 20 percent of the organization that have been privatized, new owners did not buy the premises in order to continue production process in them; they did that because they saw the value of the sole objects. The first year without dismissal is ending now, when real motives of the acquisitions will become public", says Savic.
She also says that strikes become massive because the social economic
committee is not functioning and because the government does not have real
communication with the unions. On the other hand, says Savic, cooperation
between the unions is becoming stronger, especially in factories, and the
relations on the republic level are also getting better. Nebojsa Savic, vice president of the UGS, furthermore warns on the lack of social dialogue.
"There will be more and more strikes because of this, and this suggests that it would be better for the government representatives to communicate with the workers and give them the right information. Strikes happening at the moment are actually workers'response to government behavior, which will be responsible for the incoming strikes of highly tolerant unions, like UGS", says Savic.
Vlada Andric, president of the Belgrade Independent Union, says that we can still talk about independent strikes which have not grown into the city strikes and strikes on a republic level, and that is very difficult to foresee if and when the escalation of workers'discontent will happen.
"Strikes happen because of the poor economic situation, while some are
displeased with the privatization that has been undertaken, or with slow
revision of privatization. More worry is set up with the announcement of
public organizations restructuring. Educational workers have their special
reasons for strike, and all of this creates situation that is very intense
and far from being easily controlled and lead".
When we talk about government relation towards the unions, Mr. Andric,
differently from his colleagues, is of the opinion that cooperation between the workers and Ministry of Labor is satisfying and that the union finally has someone to whom it can direct all of the mind-sets and ideas belonging to the area of labor regulation.
http://www.blic.co.yu/
see also:
THE WORKERS' MOVEMENT IN SERBIA AND EX-YUGOSLAVIA
by Aleksandar Simic / Revolutionary Group TORPEDO
This piece was originally written as a paper for the radical left conference 'Crisis, War and the World Economy - the Prospects of the Organized Working Class in the Countries of Former Yugoslavia' held in Berlin, Germany, in November 1995. The group TORPEDO has since disbanded, but the piece retains its relevance. The wars in ex-Yugoslavia, along with their nationalist and irrational aspects, have also very much been an attack on the working population and their living conditions. After all, in the late 1980s world bankers considered Yugoslavia "ungovernable" and felt the population was "living beyond it means"; and when the end of Cold War bloc politics brought an end to Yugoslavia's strategic position the destruction of Yugoslavia, including its working class, could begin.
see: http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka/en/will-firth/radpokr-diac.html
Most of Yugoslavia has now been 'third-worlded' and virulent nationalisms play a divisive role. The task of rebuilding an independent workers' movement and other social movements on an internationalist basis there is as current as ever. This piece should help understand how the workers' movement in ex-Yugoslavia has evolved from its beginnings up until the present.
(includes a brief section 'Note on the Pronunciation of Serbo-Croatian Names': http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka/en/will-firth/radpokr-diac.html#pronunciation .)
translated by Will Firth
R. Markovic
There is a huge wave of strikes happening in Serbia in the last few days. First the railway union started one-hour strike, and then displeased arms -producers came to Belgrade, while on the same day two health unions started their strikes. The educational workers have given the public information about their intention to start strikes in the coming fall. Who is next and does this line of aforementioned strikes suggests how "hot union fall" will start earlier this year, or does all of this suggests minute flares that will be eased down in no time?
The strike wave is, according to unions'representatives, clear consequence of the workers'poor economic situation, including the absence of social dialogue between the governmentıs representatives and the workers. If the social dialogue functioned better, the problems would be solved in a different way, which all indicates that the strikes would be lessening, suggest the workers.
Ranka Savic, president of the Free and Independent Unions Association,
states in her interview for the "Blic" how "strikes represent logical
consequence of the government work and the fact that, even after the
continuation of the restructuring of the organizations process, not one new social program has been introduced".
She thinks that strikes that are still solitary will escalate as soon as the holiday season ends, at the end of August and at the beginning of September.
"When discussing the issues with us, premier and ministers are insisting
that money sources from the budget are insufficient and request from us to
be patient and to appease the workers. Maybe we, unions' representatives,
could afford to be patient as they require, but this demand is impossible
for the workers. Only now the fact about organization buying and
privatization becomes known: according to the data we have, in 20 percent of the organization that have been privatized, new owners did not buy the premises in order to continue production process in them; they did that because they saw the value of the sole objects. The first year without dismissal is ending now, when real motives of the acquisitions will become public", says Savic.
She also says that strikes become massive because the social economic
committee is not functioning and because the government does not have real
communication with the unions. On the other hand, says Savic, cooperation
between the unions is becoming stronger, especially in factories, and the
relations on the republic level are also getting better. Nebojsa Savic, vice president of the UGS, furthermore warns on the lack of social dialogue.
"There will be more and more strikes because of this, and this suggests that it would be better for the government representatives to communicate with the workers and give them the right information. Strikes happening at the moment are actually workers'response to government behavior, which will be responsible for the incoming strikes of highly tolerant unions, like UGS", says Savic.
Vlada Andric, president of the Belgrade Independent Union, says that we can still talk about independent strikes which have not grown into the city strikes and strikes on a republic level, and that is very difficult to foresee if and when the escalation of workers'discontent will happen.
"Strikes happen because of the poor economic situation, while some are
displeased with the privatization that has been undertaken, or with slow
revision of privatization. More worry is set up with the announcement of
public organizations restructuring. Educational workers have their special
reasons for strike, and all of this creates situation that is very intense
and far from being easily controlled and lead".
When we talk about government relation towards the unions, Mr. Andric,
differently from his colleagues, is of the opinion that cooperation between the workers and Ministry of Labor is satisfying and that the union finally has someone to whom it can direct all of the mind-sets and ideas belonging to the area of labor regulation.
http://www.blic.co.yu/
see also:
THE WORKERS' MOVEMENT IN SERBIA AND EX-YUGOSLAVIA
by Aleksandar Simic / Revolutionary Group TORPEDO
This piece was originally written as a paper for the radical left conference 'Crisis, War and the World Economy - the Prospects of the Organized Working Class in the Countries of Former Yugoslavia' held in Berlin, Germany, in November 1995. The group TORPEDO has since disbanded, but the piece retains its relevance. The wars in ex-Yugoslavia, along with their nationalist and irrational aspects, have also very much been an attack on the working population and their living conditions. After all, in the late 1980s world bankers considered Yugoslavia "ungovernable" and felt the population was "living beyond it means"; and when the end of Cold War bloc politics brought an end to Yugoslavia's strategic position the destruction of Yugoslavia, including its working class, could begin.
see:
http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka/en/will-firth/radpokr-diac.html
Most of Yugoslavia has now been 'third-worlded' and virulent nationalisms play a divisive role. The task of rebuilding an independent workers' movement and other social movements on an internationalist basis there is as current as ever. This piece should help understand how the workers' movement in ex-Yugoslavia has evolved from its beginnings up until the present.
(includes a brief section 'Note on the Pronunciation of Serbo-Croatian Names':
http://www.savanne.ch/tusovka/en/will-firth/radpokr-diac.html#pronunciation .)
translated by Will Firth