A wave of factory closures across southern Serbia continues, following the shutdown of the Kentaur plant in Vranje. The next to close is Trendteks in Bela Palanka, leaving around 50 workers without jobs and reportedly without three months of wages, according to the Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP).
Trendteks, which produced work uniforms, was opened in 2018 with promises of employing 250 people, but the number of workers never exceeded 100. Local officials had presented the factory as a major investment that would revitalize Bela Palanka. Goran Miljković, the long-serving mayor of Bela Palanka, used the factory opening as a political springboard to switch from the Democratic Party of Serbia (SDS) to the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
SSP claims the factory owes its employees several months’ pay and that both the company website and employee email domains have been deactivated. The phone number previously listed for contact now belongs to a former worker. The opposition also alleges that the factory received significant government subsidies — both from national funds and through local investment in renovating the facility — costing the small municipality over 100 million dinars.
SSP MP Jelena Milošević questioned the absence of government officials following the closure, accusing the authorities of abandoning workers after heavily publicizing the project.
Southern Serbia has been hit particularly hard by factory shutdowns. Earlier this year, the Leoni factory in Niš announced it would close, affecting 1,900 workers. Other major employers such as Benetton, Johnson Electric, and Draexlmaier have also reduced their workforce or left the country entirely. The recent closures of Kentaur in Vranje and Trendteks in Bela Palanka have deepened concerns among workers across the region, many of whom fear the collapse of once-promised industrial investments.
