More than 100 people gathered at a protest organized by right-wing organizations on Sunday, including participants of so-called “national patrols” that intercepted migrants in downtown Belgrade.
Although the number of migrants in Serbia has only slightly increased since the beginning of the year, and the number of crimes perpetrated by migrants represents merely 0.06% of the total number of crimes committed, social networks are flooded with fake news, which raise panic over a fabricated issue.
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.
Every year, thousands of medical workers leave Serbia and the surrounding Balkan countries for Germany, where hospital and retirement homes are more than willing to dish out hefty sums to intermediaries who bring in fresh employee material. It is a play on people looking for a better life, with plenty of money involved. But who are the key players?
Export of medical health professionals is weakening the public health system in Serbia and is against the interest of its citizens, says Mario Reljanović, a research fellow of the Belgrade Institute of Comparative Law.
Domestic legislation has for the first time regulated the position of employees engaged through agencies, although such employment has existed for years. In what way and how much will the new law help agency workers? We discussed this with Jugoslav Ristić, president of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions in Kragujevac and Mario Reljanović, an expert in labour law.
At the end of July this year, 15-year-old Alexandra was killed in Caracal, southern Romania. The fact that the police, whom she had called three times, took nineteen hours to locate the call and arrive at the scene of the killing, caused shock and indignation across Romania, but also pointed to the state apparatuses’ mechanisms of subordination, and the catastrophic effect of capitalism on the outskirts of Europe.
Postmen protested today in front of the main post office in Novi Sad. Post of Serbia workers don’t give up on their demand for better material position and fight against the increasing pressure exerted by management and the authorities.
Post of Serbia workers rejected the government’s salary increase proposal yesterday. A large number of employees of this profitable company currently earn wages closer to the minimum wage than the average earnings in the republic.
A large number of Post of Serbia workers continue the work stoppage they started two days ago. The reason for dissatisfaction are low salaries and the management’s wage increase proposal, which many workers deem unfair. After the main postal center in Zemun was blocked on Monday night, a series of stoppages in postal units in many cities across Serbia followed. Delivery workers and drivers are most likely to suspend work, while counter clerks joined at different locations.
The main postal center in Zemun is again blocked after workers suspended work last night. Postal workers arriving from several cities organized a protest the previous evening in front of the Zemun GPC to express dissatisfaction with the management and authorities who did not respect the pay increase arrangements.
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.
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.
What is the European nationalist right, when did it emerge and why is it on a steady course of success? Joachim Becker has some answers.
Several historic buildings were demolished in an area listed as cultural heritage, in Braće Radić street in the city of Subotica. The Intermunicipal Institute for Protection of cultural monuments in Subotica had previously issued a permit to remove the buildings to a firm called DG Company.
A protest of support for the people of Rojava was held in front of the Turkish embassy in Belgrade yesterday.
A traffic accident in Serbian capital Belgrade in which a Wolt bicycle courier got injured raised concerns about Wolt couriers’ working conditions and status. Are they employed and where, do they have health and social insurance, right to sick leave, vacations, how much do they earn…
Climate strike march took place in Belgrade last Friday under the slogans: “Wake up and join! The young demand changes!” A few hundred people, most of them young, gathered at the Terazijska česmafountain, demanding climate politics which will keep global warming within the acceptable limits. The gathering was organized by Fridays for Future Serbia and the Serbian Green Youth.
The public will learn the official minimum wage for the next year no later than mid September. However, although the Social and Economic Council has just entered negotiations, it is already certain that the minimum wage will be set below the cost of the minimum consumer basket.
If the initiative to change the Labour law passes, Serbia might extend working life to 70 years of age for those who wish to remain active. According to the daily newspaper Politika, the initiative has already been adopted by eminent experts at a session dedicated to the questions of contemporary legislative held in Budva city, Montenegro.
Couple of hundred citizens gathered in front of the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade on May 26. The reasons for their dissatisfaction are the new authorisations given to private enforcement officers and the criminalisation of solidarity. The demand of the protest organised by the United Action Roof over One’s Head (Združena akcija Krov nad glavom) is to protect the right to have a home.
