We the workers of ‘Zastava Elektro,’ ‘Raška,’ ‘Srbolek,’ ‘Šinvoz,’ ‘Ravanica’, ‘Trudbenik Gradnja’ and BEK, are struggling to keep our jobs, and to live in a land where the law will apply to all.

Our problems cannot be solved through the measures proposed by the government’s ‘Working Group for Overcoming Problems and Realizing the Rights of the Employed in the Context of Economic Crisis’. Linking ones years of service to benefits and one-off monetary contributions aren’t adequate measures for the maintenance of workplaces that are being extinguished as a result of theft and corruption.

FOR THIS REASON WE DEMAND THAT THE GOVERNMENT IMMEDIATELY UNDERTAKE MEASURES TO HALT LAWLESSNESS IN THE PRIVATIZATION OF OUR ENTERPRISES, SINCE THIS IS THE ONLY WAY, OVER THE LONGTERM, TO PRESERVE THE PRODUCTIVE CAPACITIES FROM WHICH WE ALL LIVE.

The local government’s of Zrenjanin, Raska, Novi Pazar, and Cuprija have all, in their own ways, committed themselves to supporting the struggle for the revival of our enterprises. That is to say they’ve stood up for the preservation of our jobs that is to say they’ve also stood up for the survival of the local communities from which we originate. However, despite such good intentions, it seems like municipal governments can only offer us words of support, but that they don’t have any mechanisms at hand to prevent our, as well as their own, collapse that inevitibly follows when local industry dies out.

FOR THIS REASON WE DEMAND THAT THE GOVERNMENT URGENTLY IMPLEMENT MEASURES THAT CAN SECURE A GREATER ROLE FOR MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS IN MANAGING LOCAL INDUSTRY AND TO EMPOWER LOCAL COMMUNITIES WITH THE POWER TO ACTUALLY SUPPORT THE SURVIVAL OF THOSE FIRMS THAT STILL HAVEN’T BEEN DESTROYED THROUGH PLUNDER AND LAWLESSNESS.

As workers engaged in protest, but also as citizens of Serbia, we are very concerned about the declarations of the premier and other governemnt functionaries that there will no longer be cause for protest once the government adopts the measures suggested by the its ‘Working Group.’ In short, they are suggesting that the police will from now on prevent peaceful protests in front of government institutions in Belgrade. We are warning the premier that not in a single country considering itself democratic can the government determine if the citizenry has a reason to protest or not. Placing limits on the right to the peaceful expression of ones discontent represents a brutal violation of fundamental political freedoms. If the government doesn’t want workers protesting in the streets of the captial and appearing on the front pages of the press, then let it show us that it is ready to resolve the just demands of the workers, and that it is worthy of our trust.

FOR THIS REASON WE ARE DEMANDING THAT THE GOVERNMENT STOP WITH ITS DECLARED INTENTION TO CRACK-DOWN ON WORKERS PROTESTS IN FRONT OF GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS IN BELGRADE.

The Coordinating Committee for Workers Protest in Serbia addresses these demands to the Government of Serbia and its working organs, with an offer of a meeting. If we haven’t received a response within a reasonable time frame, we will radicalize our protests until the government realizes that it can no longer make decisions about our lives without us.

COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR WORKERS PROTESTS IN SERBIA

For the ‘Zastavo Elektro’ Strike Committee 

Slobodan Gajic

For the ‘Raška’ Strike Committee

Zoran Bulatovic

For the ‘Ravanica’ Strike Committee  

Dragana Mitrovic

For the ‘Srbolek’ Strike Committee

Zoran Gocevic

For the ‘Šinvoz’ Strike Committee  

Mita Lisica                                  

For the ‘BEK’ Strike Committee

Milena Prstojevic

For the ‘Trudbenik Gradnja’ Strike Committee

Milan Ziivkovic