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Unions against the provisions of the Strike Law, which prohibits the suspension of work outside the company
While workers across Europe are striking unhindered on the streets of the largest cities to attract public attention and force the authorities to adopt their demands in Serbia, the strike outside the workplace is illegal and if the draft of the new strike law receives the support of the Serbian Parliament.
Photo: Vanja KeserAccording to the Secretary of the Council of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia, Zoran Mihajlovic, workers in Serbia, judging by the proposed version of the Strike Bill, will not be able to express their dissatisfaction outside the factory or workplace, and if they want to leave as a meeting, which, he claims, makes the strike pointless.
The bill, which has formally passed public debate, has yet to come for consideration in the Serbian Government, and the question is what will be the final version when it is approved by the Assembly.
The latest report from the European Commission on the part of Chapter 19, devoted to social policy and employment in the process of integration of Serbia into the European Union, states that “there is still much work to be done”.
As stated, this refers especially to the area of labor law, employment policy, improving social dialogue and safety at work, because the regulations in these areas are only partially harmonized with EU regulations.
Serbia must pass a new labor law harmonized with at least 14 EU directives, as well as a strike law.
The strike bill prescribes the right of employees to express their discontent, the conditions and manner of organizing a strike, as well as the rights and obligations of employees and employers during the announcement and during the strike.
According to the current Strike Law, the meeting place cannot be outside the workspace, and the Project provides for a slightly softer formulation of the same essence “so that it can be organized in the workspace and otherwise according to the law “.
Mihajlović notes that the “other form of organization” is to meet outside the workplace, which is regulated by the Assemblies Act and makes the strike meaningless.
– 24 years ago the current Strike Law was passed and the main problem is that the minimum work process in activities of public interest during the strike is not precisely defined – says Mihajlović.
According to him, the strike bill limited public interest activities, which must provide a minimum of work during the strike, unlike the current law, where almost all activities are covered, from electricity production to education.
The project establishes that the obligation to organize a minimum of work applies to the chemical industry, the steel industry, ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgy, and the production and storage of hazardous materials.
While members of the military did not have the right to strike in the Strike Law, that prohibition was extended in the Draft New Law to the Security Information Agency (BIA), emergency medical care and flight control, reports Beta. .
The president of the United Serbian Trade Unions “Sloga”, Zeljko Veselinovic, tells Danas that it is not acceptable for unions to be prevented from striking outside the company gates. Something like this is an attack on the basic rights of the working class.
– Everywhere in Europe we can see unions on strike in the streets. This is completely normal because only then can they, in certain cases, achieve their goals. That should be the case in Serbia as well. Because if the unions are deprived of the right to strike outside the company, it will not be possible to achieve the solidarity of other workers with the strikers, which happens when they protest in the street. Additionally, the public will not be adequately informed about the strike because media teams may be prohibited from entering company premises. Furthermore, the police can reject a public meeting outside the factory or company under a certain explanation. All this violates workers’ rights and the right to strike, and therefore strikes outside companies should not be avoided in Serbia in any way, says Veselinović. He adds that a special law on strikes should not be passed, but that the issue should be systematically resolved within the framework of labor law.
Ivica Cvetanović, president of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions, also points out that workers should not be denied the opportunity to strike in the streets. It emphasizes that in some European countries the right to strike is not regulated by a special law, but was made within the labor legislation.
– It is necessary to enable the strike to take place through activities in the street. In this way, general strikes are carried out in countries like France. They can be held as public gatherings, but they definitely represent strike activity and must be legal and permitted. The strike law, which is already in force, recognizes an unnecessarily high number of activities supposedly important for the security of the country, for which a minimum work process is prescribed in those sectors, which reduces the efficiency of the strike. For example, health care is presented as an important activity for the security of the country, which is complete nonsense. Any exaggeration in that sense and the factual restriction of the right to strike of employees must be removed from the new legal solution – concludes our interlocutor.
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