What is rotten with Serbia’s mass protests?
The official organizers state that the protests in Belgrade are not political, but many people are taking to the streets under a different political message.
News
Why Hungary’s new “slave law” pushes workers to the brink
Hungary’s “slave law” is the government’s attempt to remedy existing labour shortage in the country for the benefit of multinational companies and to the detriment of workers. Industrial workers in general have not mobilized yet, but the trade unions announced and started preparation for strike actions.
Serbian tax system – heaven for investors, hell for citizens
What do Serbia and the Maldives have in common? Similarity is not geographical or cultural, but fiscal. Namely, Serbian tax policies and its “socialism for the rich” place the country among those in the “grey zone” of tax havens.
Activists protest against enforcement officers in Belgrade
Members of United Action Roof Over One’s Head and Efektiva groups, joined by their sympathisers, held a protest gathering in front of Hotel M in Belgrade, where an assembly of the Chamber of Enforcement Officers was taking place.
Activists in Serbia prevent three evictions in two cities
Activists belonging to the United Action Roof Over One’s Head and United Action Roof Over One’s Head Novi Sad groups prevented three evictions in one day.
Fatal accidents at Belgrade Waterfront construction site – interview with a witness
Masina’s journalists managed to talk with a worker engaged at the Parkview construction site, who witnessed a tragedy in which the lives of two of his co-workers were lost. According to his words the working conditions at the Belgrade waterfront construction site are terrible, there are workers without employment contracts, and the labour inspection announces its arrival beforehand.
Plundering through privatisation was allowed by law – “The truth about the 24 cases”
The same people who robbed the state were involved in the making of the law. Participants of the panel discussion “The truth about the 24 cases”, organized by the Centre for investigative journalism (CINS) concluded that the Law on Privatisation allowed corruption during the transition period in Serbia, which lead to systemic deterioration of economy and society.
CCC strongly condemns the offenses to the workers made by the President of Serbia
A strong condemnation of the offenses that the President of Serbia made to the workers during his visit to a construction site of a future Turkish textile factory “Eurotay” in the city of Kraljevo comes from the Clean Clothes Campaign – an alliance dedicated to the improvement of working conditions in the global clothes manufacturing industry.
Serbian government wants to stimulate birthrates by lowering financial support for mothers
Contrary to the officials’ pompous announcements, the newly introduced legal measures diminish financial support for expectant and new mothers.
Pay cuts cause a strike in Magna factory in Serbia
All three shifts in the Magna Seating factory in the town of Odžaci in Serbia discontinued work yesterday in protest over unannounced pay cuts.
H&M fails to pay its workers a living wage
Contrary to the promise it made five years ago, H&M pays its workers less than living wage, the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) has established.
Pressure on trade union representatives continue – trade union commissioner sacked in the National Museum of Serbia
Radoslav Piljak has been fired after his trade union exposed malversation and illegal activities in the National Museum of Serbia.
Two workers die at Belgrade Waterfront construction site
This morning two workers, around thirty and forty years old, died in Belgrade after falling from great height. The ambulance received an emergency call at 9:42 a.m. and the two medical teams sent could only pronounce them dead at the scene.
The Yugoslav working class was against austerity measures of the eighties
In the late eighties, half a million people took part in labour strikes in reaction to the economic crisis. The trade unions, although being the most significant workers’ organizations, failed to appropriate this battle. Instead, it was claimed by the nationalist political parties on the rise.
Trade union members in Kragujevac face criminal charges, threats and phone tapping
Zastava oružje trade union and its president Dragan Ilić face pressure from the company management and the police, the trade union states in a press release.
Exodus of professional drivers from Serbia
Professional city bus drivers are leaving Serbia with a one-way ticket increasingly often. The prolongation of working hours, low salaries and irrational business policies of the City public transport company Belgrade do not only motivate the drivers to emigrate, but also serve as arguments for further privatization of the company.
Returning the river to its riverbed, followed by a protest – the struggle for rivers in Serbia has only begun
A few days after locals from the villages in Stara Planina (the Balkan Mountains) and activists belonging to an informal organization called Let’s defend the rivers of Stara Planina returned the Rudinjskariver back to its natural riverbed, they began the preparations for a protest gathering against the construction of mini hydropower plants (MHP), scheduled to take place on the second of September, at the Red square in the city of Pirot.
The new school year in Serbia will start with teachers’ protest and a series of one-day strikes
At yesterday’s press conference representatives of education trade unions (the SPRS Union, the GSPRS Nezavisnost, SRPS, SOS) announced a protest motivated by the introduction of a new salary structure in the public sector. The protest named “Justice before money” will be held on the August 31, at noon, in front of the Serbian Ministry of education.
BusPlus ticketing system in public transport: a profit-making tool
Private-public partnerships in public services sector represent just another instrument for private businesses to get their hands on public funds. BusPlus is a typical example of such business model in Serbia whose downsides have been obvious for years now.
Refugees under siege – piece as war by legal means
The Serbian state undertook action to evict refugees from their homes in Ustanička street and the Bristol hotel in Belgrade. In the first case the results of an open call for residency in the apartments used by the Commissariat for Refugees are used as justification for the evictions. In the second it is the whim of private investors.
