For days now in Serbia temperatures during the day exceed 40 degrees. On highways, construction sites, city cleanliness and other places and factories workers are working, mostly without reduced working hours, and sometimes without air conditioning.
There is no mandatory suspension in Serbia rada at high temperatures. There are Guidelines for safe and healthy outdoor work at high temperatures, but they are not binding.
The Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, Goran Vesić, recently suggested to employers to "think about organizing different working hours, to start earlier in the morning, to finish later in the evening, to work during the night, whenever possible".
The president of the trade union "Sloga" Željko Veselinović told "Vreme" that the problem is that our country, unlike developed countries, does everything ad hoc - "developed countries send their employees on a collective annual vacation in the period from the second half of July to the first half of August. precisely for protection from extreme heat. Unfortunately, this is not a practice in Serbia, so we have witnessed a significant increase in the number of sick leave since the beginning of the month, because it is not humane to work in these conditions, especially not outdoors. People use all the mechanisms allowed by the law to help themselves and go on sick leave," explains Veselinović.
He goes on to say that additional measures certainly cost the employer more, but that they must shorten the workers' working hours, provide adequate conditions in terms of cold drinks, vitamins and more.
People are suffering more and more in the workplace
The bodies of the two workers were found on July 19 in a sewer shaft in New Belgrade. The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia announced that two workers were found dead in New Belgrade, who were most likely killed while cleaning a sewer pipe.
Veselinović recalls that case and adds that the other day, a worker in a private company got sick at a random place, after which she died in front of the factory.
"Let's not talk about those mass sicknesses and mass illnesses that are caused by high temperatures and work under inadequate conditions," emphasizes our interlocutor.
He also explains that the big problem in "low-budget" factories is that they are halls that are not adequately equipped and not air-conditioned.
"These are assembly halls that are made of thin sheet metal, where at high temperatures it heats up and their cooling systems cannot cool the halls as much as they should, and then it happens that a large number of people at work collapse," concludes Veselinović.
Technical deficiency and/or lack of systemic will to change
An additional problem, warns our interlocutor, is that the law prescribes some 230 labor inspectors who should control 400.000 legal entities.
"It is practically impossible." "They should now implement measures where they would punish unscrupulous employers in order to act preventively on events at extreme temperatures," says Veselinović.
What is the solution
Veselinović is of the opinion that the solution would be first of all to pass a law where most companies would switch to collective vacations, and that the necessary services find ways to move their work from those afternoon hours to evening or morning hours, to work twice or to working hours are reduced.
"People's productivity at such temperatures is absolutely zero." In addition to the danger to their health and safety at work, their productivity is significantly reduced because it is logical that people cannot make any maximum contribution in any job if they have to be outside on the asphalt when it is 40 degrees," says our interlocutor.
When asked how, finally, the workers can fight for their rights, Veselinović says that the workers themselves do not have any opportunities, and that where there are unions, there are certain developments.
"Where there are unions, there are some chances, advances and successes, but where there are none, people are left to their own devices, that is, to the good will of the employer." And unfortunately, experience shows us that those employers are not very interested in taking care of employees and their working conditions", concludes Željko Veselinović.
