Serbia

4

Systematic violations of rights

Same as last year

Region:Europe

Workers' rights violations

Dismissals for participating in strike action

Fiat Plastik in Serbia attempted to break a strike by its workers in the Serbian city of Kragujevac by placing the strike committee on paid leave in May 2021 and transferring some of the production away from the Kragujevac facility. Thirteen workers who took part in the stoppages, including the entire strike committee, were illegally placed on leave, and the committee locked out of the plant. Management also removed machinery from the plant.

Protests had begun in January 2021 with one-hour-per-day stoppages further to the announcement of a €300 annual pay cut.

In June 2021, management were charged with misdemeanours by the labour inspectorate over attempts to break the strike.

In August, the United Trade Unions of Serbia denounced intimidation by the Security and Information Agency of Serbia (BIA). BIA called the president of the strike committee on 11 August to invite him to a “conversation”. The Fiat Plastik union refused, announcing that it was “not interested in politics”, only with trade union matters.

The dispute continued. Negotiations with Fiat, mediated by the state Agency for the Peaceful Settlement of Labor Disputes, failed in October. At the time of writing, the dispute had not yet been resolved.

Workers’ rights in law

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