Yielding to capital: Serbian Ministry of labour is covering for the employers whose workers died in 2019

In the year 2019, declared by the Government of Serbia to be the year of occupational safety and health, more employees died than in 2018, when as many as 53 workers lost their lives. Concurrently, the Ministry of Labour for the first time refused to provide the author of this piece with information concerning the employers who hired the passed away workers, as well as the information regarding the possible violations of labour regulations, although withholding such information contradicts the law on Access to Information of Public Importance, the former Commissioner Rodoljub Šabić pointed out for Mašina.

Three Draxelmaier’s workers fired because of the strike

Three workers of the Dräxlmaier factory in Zrenjanin, Serbia were fired , according to Masina’s sources. At the beginning of October workers in all three shifts discontinued work for an hour to protest against low wages and vague criteria for payroll calculation. Dräxlmaier suspended 32 workers on the account of strike. However, most suspensions have been lifted after the Labour inspectorate intervened.

Law violations in Dräxlmaier: from firing a new mother to suspending workers

Dräxlmaier, a German company which has been a long-time recipient of subsidies and the largest employer in the city of Zrenjanin in Serbia, implements poor working conditions and uses unclear criteria for calculating wages. In addition, this year the company illegally fired new mothers and suspended workers, causing the Labour inspectorate to initiate misdemeanour proceedings against Dräxlmaier, as Mašina’s investigation shows.