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The concessionaire of the Belgrade airport, the French “Vence”, has started the restructuring of the company, which means a reduction in the number of employees, which currently has about two thousand. It will not extend fixed-term workers’ contracts after their expiration and will offer severance pay to employees in permanent employment. It is not known how many workers are laid off.
It is true, however, that for some 300 people who work part time in this modality, there is no more space due to the reduction in passenger traffic and the losses suffered by the company due to the health crisis.
Vesna Vilotić, the president of the union “Together” of the airport “Nikola Tesla”, says for “Politika” that many of these workers whose contract will not be extended are necessary for the airport, even at this time when the scope of work has been reduced . According to her, the employer terminates the cooperation to save and reduce losses, without thinking about the work processes.
It states that these 300 employees work for a fixed period of time between seven and ten years. Only contract types were changed. They are used in operational activities that deal with the safety of passengers, baggage and airport complexes.
Vilotić says that even now, in certain parts, there is a lack of enforcers in operational matters. They have a severe shortage of workers in the cleaning sector, because the employer, he explains, did not extend the work of the people who worked there in May to save money.
At that time, some 300 workers lost their jobs, which were also hired part-time.
– Then he terminated the contract with the company that maintained the cleaning of the terminal, so the number of employees is below any minimum in that service and it is impossible to carry out unnecessary work processes. Even at this volume of traffic, which is 30% from last year. The employer offered workers who work indefinitely a voluntary departure program, with a certain financial compensation of 800,000 dinars and more, but according to criteria that he determined. The unions do not agree with these criteria. They do not announce the number of dismissed employees, in what activities and in what jobs – Vilotić claims and announces a warning strike by three unions of this company.
The fact is, he says, that working conditions are deteriorating and are worse than two years ago, when “Vence” became a concessionaire of Belgrade airport, much less the situation of the past, in terms of worsening rights labor.
– We have concluded that employees who perform complex jobs related to aircraft shipping or security have been ordered to clean the restrooms. The kovid crisis is an excuse for all the bad things that are happening. We demand equal conditions for all those who leave and those who stay, as well as that the employer provides information according to the law about where the dismissals will be, how the new systematization will be and what the new labor obligations of the employees will be. We are aware that the company must transform itself so that the crisis has caused changes, and that this is visible and clear to everyone. We ask the employer for equality in the first place – says Vilotić.
However, the company “Belgrade Airport”, which has been in charge of managing the airport for 25 years, assures “Politika” that they have adopted a restructuring model to further reduce costs due to the drastic impact that Kovid 19 has had on the air traffic in the last six months.
They claim that the number of passengers in the first half of this year decreased by 61.4 percent, and in the second quarter by up to 94.6 percent compared to the same period in 2019, which resulted in a reduction significant in the company’s revenue. Restructuring involves a voluntary departure program for permanent employees who are interested in it, and fixed-term contracts that expire cannot be renewed.
According to his explanation, the current volume of traffic and passengers is such that only parts of Terminal 2 operate at Belgrade’s “Nikola Tesla” Airport, while Terminal 1 is not in use.
They recall that in 2019, the Belgrade airport had around 6.2 million passengers, and at the moment it serves only a third of this number of passengers. In September alone, the number of passengers decreased by 70% compared to the same period in 2019. And this trend is also expected in the coming months.
– After the restructuring, the organization of the company will be better aligned with the current business needs and the volume of traffic, which at the same time allows you to react quickly and withstand possible changes in the volume of traffic. We have started a formal consultation process with the unions for the voluntary departure of employees for an indefinite period, offering competitive packages in accordance with good market practices. The company kept all of its employees for a specified time during the crisis, for more than six months, despite the fact that they were on leave due to the low volume of traffic.
However, for those employees whose employment contracts expire before the end of the year, the contract at the airport cannot be extended due to current circumstances. These necessary decisions had to be taken to keep the business of the company “Belgrade Airport” and save as many jobs as possible for future postcovid growth – they say in the company “Belgrade Airport”.
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