Dismissed textile workers were exposed to management’s pressure
The workers from Turkish factory Kaizen who were dismissed last Saturday had signed mutual termination agreements under management’s pressure and threats of legal prosecution.
Textile workers in Smederevo on strike
Around three hundred workers employed in Turkish factory Kaizen in Smederevo started a strike yesterday demanding to receive promised reimbursments for overtime labour.
People are having their flats taken away, are they not? On The Other Side of Everything
‘Political horror film’ named The other side of everything has gained significant international attention, won certain awards and filled the cinema seats. Mašina uncovers all that has been unsaid in the film and unveils the lurking class antagonisms beneath what it claims to present.
Rory Archer: Leftists should not shy away from assessing the defective aspects of the socialist Yugoslav project
Rory Archer is a historian who researches social history of the Balkans in the 20th century and currently works at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at the University College London. Archer explores the ways in which “ordinary” Yugoslavs interpreted economic, political and cultural tensions in late socialism and reacted to them. Since 2014 he has worked with Goran Musić on a research project titled Between Class and Nation: Working class communities in the eighties in Serbia and Montenegro. In 2015 he completed his PhD in Graz with a dissertation on the (in)affordability of housing among the working class in Belgrade, and in 2016 co-authored the book Social Inequalities and Disaffection in Yugoslavian Socialism.
Support rally for Afrin in Belgrade
Several dozen of men and women participated today in Belgrade protest which was organized as a part of the global day of action and international solidarity with Afrin.
International Women’s Day protest march in Belgrade
A protest march marking International Women’s Day took place in Belgrade.
Belgrade City Assembly elections 2018
Mašina is covering the on-going Belgrade City Assembly elections. Comments written by our editorial board, reports from the election headquarters, commissions and organisations overseeing the elections coming soon! We’re on it!
Costas Lapavitsas: If the left got its act together, things would change drastically
One of the most vocal promotors of leaving the Eurozone was Costas Lapavitsas, professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Mr. Lapavitsas is a prominent critic of the European financial system, and has been working on issues related to the theory of money over many years.
Adriatic getaway for anticommunists and revisionists
In the past couple of decades, Goli Otok has been frequented by anti-communists and revisionists. History of this island unquestionably represents one of the most prominent blots in Yugoslav socialism, but sensationalism and falsified data do not help in better understanding the matter.
Pack your stethoscope: hundreds of doctors migrating from Serbia to Germany
Pauperised Serbia pays exuberant amounts for educating doctors who end up a number in the Bureau of Labour registers or find employment in the West; affluent Germany systematically educates fewer doctors than it needs because it will always be able to recruit them from countries that “have not made it” in their transition to capitalism.
Private hydropower plants are destroying natural resourses
The social need for renewable energy has become a true frenzy for profit-making among the private investors. Building a mini hydroelectric power plant in a nature reserve can have devastating effects on the ecosystem. We visited Stara Planina, an area where rivers could soon start flowing through the pipes.
I see labor organizing as a way out of this situation we are in – an interview with Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot’s excellence as a versatile guitarist, an improviser and a composer is well known among fans and music lovers. What has received less attention is his activism for labor rights of musicians, his view on and experience with labor organizing. After his exciting concert with The Young Philadelphians at the 33rd Belgrade Jazz Festival, Mašina had the opportunity to discuss with him a subject – he says – he gladly talks about: politics.
Explore feed test could cause political consequences in Serbia
The changes that the Facebook company introduced to the social network it controls might have political consequences.
Labour strikes in Serbia: the Pit of Foreign Investment
A number of strikes in recent months point to wrong policies for subsidizing private investment and curtailing labor rights.
Geox heatwave: more than twenty workers collapsed on their work places
Unbearable working conditions during the summer months in Geox factory in the city of Vranje.
The Fiat Strike – No Turning Back
The strike at the automobile producer Fiat Chrysler, biggest exporter of goods from Serbia, is ongoing. Mašina’s journalists visited Kragujevac and talked to the workers and union representatives.
The strike at the automobile producer Fiat Chrysler, biggest exporter of goods from Serbia, is ongoing. Mašina’s journalists visited Kragujevac and talked to the workers and union representatives.
Progressive Law, Regressive System
The Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence makes provisions that could be considered progressive. While the public reception of this law was shaped by the right-wing misogynist narrative, its implementation is made questionable by the foreseen evaluation and assessment methods, as well as the systematic socio-economic inequality of women.
Housing Policy in Serbia – From Privatization to Eviction
Evictions are an increasing threat to indebted citizens of Serbia. Thus they are marking the final phase of the transformation strategy which led to the privatization of Serbian housing fund.
Narrow-mindedness of Dual Education
Draft Law on Dual Education faces criticism of professionals, trade unions and leftist organizations. This proposed regulation would in effect legalise child labour, make it extremely difficult for students of vocational schools to enroll in higher education institutions, cause additional deterioration of labour rights and generally worsen the position of workers in the labour market. Instead of being provided with quality education, students will be trained for the role of cheap and obedient labour force.
Serbian Countryside Struggling to Survive
The eligibility criteria for the public farm lease tender demonstrate a sincere desire of the government to please profit making interest of the large companies. Small independent farmers find it increasingly difficult to survive under the pressure put on by their competitors, which leads to further deterioration of the living conditions in the countryside.
New Law to be Introduced in Serbia: Labor for Lease
Adoption of the unfavorable law on agency employment and its future regulation will only worsen the already poor labor relations.
