Major Victory for Worker Recovered Factory “Jugoremedija” in Serbia

by Association of Worker-Shareholders of Serbia — AW-SA

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=11728

Dear comrades, allies, and supporters,

A major victory for worker’s rights and struggles in Serbia has been

won following a 9 month factory occupation and a 2 and a half year

strike by the workers of Jugoremedija in Zrenjanin, Serbia.

On December 14, 2006, the Belgrade Higher Economic Court reaffirmed the

June 2006 ruling of the Zrenjanin Economic Court that the

recapitalization of the Zrenjanin-based pharmaceutical factory

Jugoremedija be repealed because it was carried out illegally through

the illegitimate manoeuvres of businessman Jovica Stefanovic Nini to

attempt to gain majority ownership. This means that the ownership of

the workers has now been restored to their rightful 58% of the company

shares. With this decision, Jugoremedija is set to become the first

factory amongst the “transition” countries in Eastern Europe

undergoing neoliberal privatization to be recovered and controlled by

its workers.

The worker – shareholders have called for a shareholders assembly for

December 30th at the Jugoremedija premises, in order to appoint a new

board and management. But Jovica Stefanovic Nini, who remains owner of

42% of the factory, is now obstructing the enforcement of the Court’s

decision and attempting to block the assembly by force. On the same

day that the workers sent him an invitation letter to attend the

assembly, Stefanovic rehired the same private security forces that

provoked the incident in August 2004 while the workers were occupying

and protecting the factory premises, which led to the intervention of

the Serbian police that forcibly expelled the workers from their

factory. Stefanovic has not yet formally responded to the invitation

to attend the assembly, but the fully armed private army now stationed

around the factory stands as a clear answer.

The workers are determined to go through with the December 30th

assembly. This will be the first time they enter their factory in

over two years, after they were forcibly evicted by Serbian police

and Stefanovic’s private army in August 2004, and then replaced by

new employees. In June of 2006, following the lower court decision

repealing the illegal recapitalization of Jugoremedija was reached by

the Zrenjanin Court, Vladimir Pecikoza, a leader of the Union of

Jugoremedija, made assurances on Serbian national television that

there will be no revenge or retaliation taken against the workers who

have been working for Stefanovic once the workers-shareholders take

back their factory.

Association of Worker-Shareholders of Serbia