No increase in public sector salaries until recession over

Belgrade, Jan. 24, 2010 (Serbia Today) - The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development, Mlađan Dinkić, announced that any increase in public sector salaries before the recession is over would devastate the country’s economy, underlining that there will be no increase in pay checks, according to the Government website (Jan 18, 2010).

Dinkić predicted that the dinar exchange rate would remain stable this year, stressing that foreign currency reserves were at a record EUR 10.5 billion. He pointed out that the dinar has already begun to strengthen. Indeed the dinar declined by only 4% since February 2009, while the inflation rate for the same period was 6.6% to 7%. Dinkić again warned that if demands of the electric power Industry and other public companies for increased salaries were met, it would cause inflation to rocket.

Dinkić noted that the Government and the National Bank of Serbia were not responsible for the drop in the Serbian dinar because demand was greater than supply, which typically happens every December and January when companies buy foreign currencies in order to pay for foreign goods and to repay debts from the previous year. He also pointed out that public spending last year was within the limits agreed upon with IMF and incorporated in the revised budget. He also said it should be determined why Serbia is not withdrawing World Bank loans, which are granted on extremely favorable terms.

Govt. refuses pay raises as strikes continue

Belgrade, Jan. 21, 2010, (Serbia Today) - President Boris Tadić held a meeting with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković and several ministers yesterday, reports said. They decided that there would be no increase of salaries in the public sector until the economic crisis is over.
Serbia’s state telecommunications company Telekom Srbija unions have, however, announced that they will go on strike on February 1, while Serbian power company EPS expects that a previous deal allowing them bigger paychecks will be respected.

Companies outside the public sector have also been putting pressure on the government. Representatives of the Ministry of Economy should during the day talk to the workers of Kuršumlija’s privatized companies Kopaonik and 7. Jul who have been blocking the Niš-Priština road for ten days now.
Employees of the Republic Geodetic Authority ended their strike yesterday after 15 days, but workers of the Glutin Veterinary Institute have gone on a hunger strike.
Their requests are more or less identical to those of other striking workers in Serbia, although the number of overdue wages is enormous – they are owed no less than 49.
It is also certain that workers of Novi Sad’s public communal companies are not going to stop their protest. Their representative Zoran Radosavljević announced that there would be less public transportation buses on the city streets starting on Thursday.
“The government will present a concrete proposal to the workers on Thursday, but we are continuing our protests until then,” he said.

A new potential source of discontent is the health care system. According to their representative, medical technicians are demanding to have a collective contract and a review of the decision to reduce the number of employees in this sector

Novi Sad public communal companies on strike

Novi Sad, Jan. 21 2010, (Serbia Today) – As B 92 reports that workers of all 14 public communal companies in Novi Sad have gone on strike because the city refused to return their salaries to last year’s level.

The strike started this morning, but the minimum work process determined by the city representatives and companies’ managements will be provided.

Several hundred workers gathered in front of the City Hall around 10:00 CET and demanded from Mayor Igor Pavličić and City Council to meet their demands.

According to a city decision, the salary mass in these public companies have been reduced by ten percent due to the negative consequences of the global economic crisis.

President of the Strike Committee Zoran Radosavljević said that the Novi Sad local assembly decision to reduce the salaries was unjustified, since the wages were already frozen.
“The government announced that wages would be frozen at the 2009 level. If they kept their decision we would not be protesting,” he said.
Chief of the negotiating team and councilor Milan Đukić said that the Ministry of Labor was notified about the strike and that therefore, it was not ruled out that negotiations would resume, with the government as a mediator.
Meanwhile, Milan Ćulibrk, an economic journalist, thinks that the frequents strikes and announced strikes in the public sector are the government’s fault, because it gave in to the demands of the EPS union to increase the company’s wages.

”It’s possible that workers in other budget-financed companies will follow suit. That includes education, health care, military, police and public services companies. It is the government’s fault because it provided cause for such behavior,” Ćulibrk believes.

Christmas Message by Mitropolit Amfilohije

Belgrade, Jan. 06, 2010, (Source: Tanjug) - The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) Mitropolit Amfilohije today sent the Christmas message to Serbs of Orthodox Christian denomination. Orthodox Christians celebrate this holiday on January 7, according to the Julian calendar.
"Serbs, as ancient Christian people, have left an indelible stamp on the history and civilization of the modern Europe and the world, embedding themselves, once and for all, in their future," the message, also signed by all the bishops of the Church, read.
The message also encouraged the Serbian people to "safeguard the Orthodox faith, language and alphabet established in the time of Cyril and Methodius, and enlightenment of St. Sava, on whichever continent they might live".
“This Christmas season we are especially filled with sadness that our great Patriarch Pavle has left us. We deeply believe that he continues to offer his prayers for our Church and our crucified people, together with Saint Sava and Saint Simeon the Martyr,” Amfolohije read.
“This Christmas season we are also with our brothers and sisters in Kosovo and Metohija – the cradle of our people. In Christ's love we ask them to return to their homesteads in Kosovo and to stay there to live with their holy shrines," said the message.
It also urges those given "earthly power and control" to reexamine their unjust decisions regarding Kosovo, "in the spirit of divine and human justice". “Only in this way will peace and community in the Balkans and Europe be renewed, and the wounded dignity of the Serbi Orthodox people be restored." The metropolitan said that this Christmas, once again, "we remember all those suffering, exiled and all those done injustice".
"We wish to console them with the words, Christ is born. Be joyful, because the Lord is coming to wipe away every human tear."

New Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church to be elected on Jan. 22

Belgrade, Jan. 06, 2010 - The new patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) will be elected at the Election Assembly which begins January 22, says Bishop of Dalmatia Fotije.
“All 45 bishops of Serbian Orthodox Church will be invited and will attend the Election Assembly. If an archbishop cannot attend, he will entrust his vote in some of other bishops,” Fotije told Belgrade daily Blic.
The Election Assembly must begin according to the valid procedure – with a triple candidacy. One out of three candidates is drawn, the bishop explained, adding that the Church Constitution could only be changed if the new patriarch were not elected.
“This is possible if none of the candidates receives enough votes, because one candidate must have 50 percent plus one vote to enter the triple candidacy. Hypothetically, if we do not have three candidates with enough votes, we must use another procedure which is defined by the Assembly,” Fotije said.
The 44th Serbian patriarch, His Holiness Pavle, passed away in Belgrade on November 15.

Flights to Cuba may start in May

Belgrade, Jan. 02, 2009, (Serbia Today) - Charter flights twice a month directly between Belgrade and Havana may be introduced in May 2010, said Gilfredo Milanes Molina, First Secretary of the Cuban Embassy in Belgrade, as reported in the holiday issue of "Privredni pregled" (Business Review). The plan is under consideration by several Serbian tourist agencies led by "Kon Tiki".
According to Molina, Serbia and Cuba are at the onset of a new era of economic cooperation, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, in agriculture and in tourism. He noted that about 500 Serbian tourists spent New Year's Eve in Cuba.

Judge and Prosecutor at the same time!

Belgrade, Dec. 28, 2009, (Serbia Today) – According to a report from daily Danas (Today) of a press conference held by the Justice System Workers Union, there were many legal and ethical improprieties in the recent reevaluation and reelection of judges at all levels of the Serbian judicial system.
Union President Slavica Zivanovic told reporters of the appointment in Valjevo of Biljana Jankicevic as Judge of the Primary Court and as Assistant Prosecutor of the same Court Circuit, both positions to be held at the same time! The High Council of Justice made other mistakes as well, reappointing deceased or retired judges and failing to reappoint respected, experienced judges without explanation.
Witnessing these improprieties and doubting, perhaps, the independence of the judicial system from the political, a number of highly qualified legal professionals have recently left the Justice Department and the Court System to work in the legal departments of large companies or in a private Law Firms.
Members of the Justice System Workers Union appealed to President Boris Tadic to annul the results of the reelections and to request the High Council to do their work over again without improprieties. Of course this would itself be illegal, but the appeal does bring into contrast President Tadic’s statement that there were no political pressures in the election of judges.