Radoslav Piljak has been fired after his trade union exposed malversation and illegal activities in the National Museum of Serbia.
The trade union commissioner of UGS Nezavisnost (United Branch Trade Union Independence), Radoslav Piljak, lost his job in the National Museum of Serbia a few days ago.
The notice of termination was presented to Piljak by the Museum’s CEO, Bojana Borić Brešković, who the union considers to be an “illegal director”, stated UGS Nezavisnonst in their press release.
The statement of grounds of the termination of the employment contract claims that the trade union representative had breached the working discipline and the rules of behaviour, without explicating the location and time of the alleged breach. A written note from another employee, accusing Piljak of “confrontations with employees including pressures, abuse, mobbing and arrogance” was offered instead.
UGS Nezavisnost and its representative have been facing pressures since April this year, when the trade union’s museum branch was first formed, the press release states.
The culture, art and media branch of UGS Nezavisnost compiled documents which, according to their claims, expose a number of malversation and illegal activities in the National Museum of Serbia, and they have presented the documents to the Ministry of Culture and other relevant institutions.
They claim the first among the recorded irregularities to be the fact that Bojana Borić Brešković still acts as the Museum’s CEO. She was supposed to step down from this position on the June 13, 2018, as confirmed to the trade union by the labour inspectorate.
Recent events suggest rising pressure on workers’ organising and unionising. Just days before the lay-off of Radoslav Piljak it was brought to the attention of the public that trade union members in Kragujevac have been facing frequent attacks on the part of their employer and the state.
M.M.
Translation from Serbian: Iskra Krstić
This article was originally published in Serbian on Sep 14, 2018.
