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.
The trade union of the armament factory in Kragujevac is well known to the public because of it relentless struggle for the amelioration of the workers’ position and the labour rights of the company’s employees. As Mašina reported, since last year they have actively opposed the privatization of their company, Zastava oružje.
According to a public statement issued by the trade union, the pressure started three years ago. At that time their organization came under scrutiny of the internal revenue, following an anonymous complaint. Now several legal charges have been issued against Dragan Ilić. The enterprise management is also threatening to fire him. In addition, recently he has been punished with a 20% reduction of his quarterly salary. As it turns out, these pressures extend outside the factory grounds.
Namely, at the beginning of last week the Public Attorney office had the police call Dragan Ilić in for questioning, based on a legal complaint against him, filed by the company’s CEO Milojko Brzaković. Brzaković accused Ilić of causing a threat to general safety. Ilić also faced an accusation of physically attacking the president of the Supervising board of the Serbian Military, Ivica Marjanović, in the administration building of the Zastava armament factory. The trade union states that their president’s vehicle is under active police survey, the police frequently pulls him over with the intention of issuing tickets, and that his cell phone is being tapped.
Zastava oružje trade union stated that these pressures are a reaction to their struggle against the privatization of the company.
The armament producers appeal to the state institutions to allow free unionizing in Zastava oružje company.
A.J.
Translation from Serbian: Iskra Krstić
This article was originally published in Serbian on Sep 11, 2018.
