Trade unions: increasingly difficult position of Serbian workers

The representatives of representative trade unions have said that workers in Serbian factories are increasingly being exploited because the management is increasing the number of working hours, the assembly line on which they work is being accelerated illegally, they are not allowed to take sick leave, and the state does not respond to the warnings of their associations.

President of the Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia (SSSS), Ljubisav Orbovic, has told Beta on the occasion of a worker fainting at workplace at the Leoni factory in Kraljevo, that employees in a number of factories are in an increasingly difficult position.

„We have warned constantly that workers are being harassed, that they are being asked to work for more than eight hours, they are not allowed to go on sick leave, so they work when they are sick, and more and more often, due to exhaustion, they faint at workplaces. Lately, it has been noticed that the assembly line at which a large number of them work in all factories has been illegally accelerated over a longer period of time, so they cannot immediately notice,“ Orbovic said.

A worker of the Leoni factory in Kraljevo, as reported by the media, fainted at workplace a few days ago, she was transported to hospital, but they could not help her and she passed away.

Orbovic said that the trade union did not know how to solve the problem of the increasingly difficult position of employees, because it did not have good cooperation with the Ministry of Labour. He pointed out that the problem was that the Labour Law had not been amended, which the trade unions insisted on in order to improve the position of workers.

According to him, there is unofficial rumour that the law will not change until 2025. In the meantime, as he said, more laws have been passed regulating the employment of foreigners, the Law on Simplified Employment in Seasonal Workers in Certain Domains and the Law on Employment through Agencies, which „dilute“ the Labour Law and reduce the labour rights of employees.

Izvor: Beta

Foto: Beta, screenshot