The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia estimates that in the fall, due to the consequences of the Covid-19 virus pandemic on the economy, 250,000 to 300,000 workers will lose their jobs in Serbia, said the secretary of the SSSS Council, Zoran Mihajlovic.
He said that more and more companies are asking the Ministry of Labor and the union for permission for a new extension of paid leave from work of 45 days, because production is reduced and they will be entitled to 65% of earnings.
“A large number of companies have used the right to paid leave of 45 days and are asking for a permit for an extension of another 45 days, and some will probably send employees on a collective vacation,” said Mihajlovic.
He added that the workers of the Kragujevac factory Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles Serbia started working a few days ago, but it is announced that they will go on vacation again next week.
As he said, the automotive industry is among the most affected sectors in the world, and most of the foreign investments that came to Serbia are from that area and will bear the same consequences as in the world that was left on the economy by the pandemic.
Mihajlovic said that 3,500 workers work in the Kragujevac FCA car factory and that more than 3,000 will go on vacation again, and that a small number will remain only in the services necessary for the maintenance of the factory.
He said that the factories that produce components for the car industry are equally endangered, and that it will not be a surprise that some investors close the factories and leave Serbia.
“The state does not have the money for additional aid, and the factories, if the epidemic is not brought under control soon, have no income and some will probably go bankrupt,” said Mihajlovic.
According to him, the companies are entitled to twice 45 days of paid leave, and the requests for another 45 days of paid leave are motivated by the hope that the epidemic will calm down, and that they have the means to pay for it.
The problems are not only, as he said, of a financial nature, but also health, because in the Kragujevac factory Zastava, there are weapons for 26 patients with Covid-19, and about 100 of them are in isolation.
According to Mihajlovic, the epidemic is being kept under control in the steel plant in Smederevo, owned by the HBIS group, and the Mining and Smelting Plant in Bor, which is managed by the Chinese company Zidjin Mining, and there are no health problems there.
“A black scenario awaits us in the fall, because the local self-governments, which had income from all factories on various bases, and especially from large ones, will also collapse,” warned Mihajlovic, Danas reports.
