Serbia’s metal industry is in a very difficult position, and the situation in Vojvodina is even worse, with the industry pratically non-existent in Novi Sad, head of the Vojvodina committee of the metal workers trade union Vlado Miljus said Monday.
According to him, the employees in the industry want the government to correct bad privatizations and offer a plan for the recovery of the metal industry, otherwise they will stage protests on October 25.
“Metal workers throughout Serbia are having a hard time. They used to be among the carriers of the development, and the starkest example of the fall of that system is precisely Novi Sad, where 22,000 metal workers earned their living 15 years ago, and today there are barely 1,500,” he told a news conference.
Four companies that are undergoing a restructuring are the worst off at the moment, he noted. They are Majevica from Backa Palanka, Petar Drapsin from Novi Sad, Utva from Pancevo and Specijalna Vozila from Sombor.
“All four companies have a market and make quality products. The trouble is the lack of funds to buy raw material and for other costs. The decision by a court of appeals stating the companies have to provide from their own sources the funds needed to pay off redundant employees hit us particularly hard,” he added.
The government should provide the funds needed to pay out severance packages and outstanding salaries, Miljus believes.
Metal workers will wait another month, he stated, adding they will stage a protest outside the government headquarters and the Justice Ministry on October 25 if there is no progress by that time.
Source emg.rs
