Major Victory for Worker Recovered Factory "Jugoremedija" in Serbia

Содержание

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

December 28, 2006

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":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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Jugoremedija be repealed because it was carried out illegally through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

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