The Workers Strike in “Knjaz Milos” Company Continued

Belgrade, April 17. 2010 (Serbia Today) - Employees of the "Knjaz Milos” mineral water bottling company in Arandjelovac continued this morning a general strike, which begun after failed negotiation with the leadership during the night between Tuesday and Wednesday. Strikers announced that the shutdown will continue until the fulfillment of demands, including keeping 106 workers who were suppose to be laid off. Workers are seeking the increase of salaries and working conditions as well as the respect of the collective agreement. CEO Michael Jankovic told Tanjug that the leadership will remain open to negotiations with the union and that they are ready at any time to sit at the negotiating table again. "The precondition is, however, cooperation and willingness to compromise on the other side, because so far we have not seen it. It's not realistic to expect any increase in wages in a situation in which the company operates at a loss, and the average salary of employees, excluding management, amounts to 42,000 RSD," he said, adding that salaries have never been late. Jankovic also stated that the strike was declared, despite the fact that management did not take "no concrete initiative towards reducing the number of employees, without a regular dialogue between unions and employers about important issues." Jankovic said that in the meantime he will insist on compliance with the minimum of the work process, in the common interest, to avoid serious damage to the company. President of the Independent Trade Union "Prince" Zivorad Kolarević said Tanjug yesterday that, in contrast to the employer, the union acted responsibly and that the factory provided a minimum of 20 percent of production. General strike in “Knjaz Milos” company , the first in its 199 year long history, begun on Wednesday morning, when it halted production of the plants for production of bottled water and juices.