"It is not easy when the Minister of Education and the Prime Minister threaten an inspection, but so far it has turned out every time that the threats created the opposite effect and produced an even bigger rebellion," Aleksandar Markov, former president of the Forum of Belgrade Gymnasiums, told Vreme.
Because of the announcement that the educational inspection will come to the school, the students of the Tenth Belgrade High School "Mihajlo Pupin" organized a rally in support of their teachers on Tuesday morning. Around 8.30:XNUMX a.m., a large number of students of the Tenth Gymnasium - current and former, as well as their parents and citizens - gathered in the gymnasium courtyard. The main message was that they will stand by their professors, but also by the students' demands.
Educators are threatened by everyone - from school principals, through dissident parents, to Prime Minister Miloš Vučević. The most common argument of the opponents of suspension of work is that "it directly violates the right to education". Among those threatening was the director of the Fifth Belgrade High School. Internal correspondence between the principal and the employees of that high school was published on social networks.
"If despite the signed agreement with the Ministry of Education, the suspension continues, I mean the illegal one, expect disciplinary proceedings. Then tell me where to start. The loudest are probably the bravest. I'm not forcing you to do anything, you're of age, I'm doing my job and I'm pointing out the circumstances", said the Viber Group director. She resigned just a few days later.
NEGOTIATIONS AND COMPROMISES WITH THE GOVERNMENT
An atmosphere of division and intimidation prevails in almost all schools. This was confirmed for "Vreme" by an educator who wished to remain anonymous. "Right now it's half and half. Some are in favor of the suspension of work, and there are also those who are afraid. There were also comments that all of us who go to the protest are mercenaries. A colleague who works in a kindergarten told me the other day that she was supposed to get a salary increase, but, as she explained to me, it didn't happen because the money planned for salary increases in preschool institutions went to the schools", claims our interlocutor.
The wave of discontent among educators was replaced by disappointment in the representative unions, which signed an agreement with the government last week. They pledged to continue negotiations and decided on a moratorium on strike activities from January 20. The presidents of the Union of Education Workers Union of Serbia, the Education Union of Serbia, the Branch Union of Education Workers of Serbia "Nezavisnost" and the Union of Education Workers of Serbia took part in the negotiations and signing of the agreement.
The evening before the news of these negotiations was to be heard in the public, Aleksandar Markov, the president of the Forum of Belgrade High Schools, resigned from that position. He made the decision, as he says, because of moral responsibility.
"As a member of the Presidency and the Republican Committee of one of the four representative trade unions, I felt that I had a moral responsibility, although there was no direct responsibility because I did not even participate in the negotiations. Nor, bearing in mind the ratio of votes in the Presidency that declared on the offer, could I influence the decision. With this act, I additionally wanted to draw the attention of the representatives of the representative unions to the great discontent among the membership, which I was personally aware of. In addition to this, at that moment in the Main Board of the Forum of Belgrade Gymnasiums, the prevailing opinion is that the response to the agreement between the trade union and the Government should be a decision to suspend classes or continue the strike", explains Markov. The continuation of the strike with the existing demands of the educators was not legally possible, and 10 days are needed to announce the strike, which would bring the professors and teachers to a standstill. Namely, in that case, they would start the strike at the moment when the second half of the year has started in earnest. The position of several members of the Forum of Belgrade Gymnasiums was, claims Markov, that the Forum must enter into a complete suspension of classes.
"I did not agree with this attitude, bearing in mind that it is an illegal strike, because of which colleagues participating in it may lose their jobs. The Forum does not have the legal ability to protect them in the event of dismissal, so it would be hypocritical to invite or oblige them to conduct such a strike. In this sense, I considered that the suspension is a mechanism to draw attention to dissatisfaction with the agreement, but that it must be a personal act. Given that our views crossed each other, I didn't want to be the one to hold back more radical decisions." In the end, the Forum did not decide on a long-term suspension, but only on union activities for January 20, which some high schools accepted, while others insisted on civil disobedience. It remains unknown how the representative trade unions did not have insight into the mood of their members. The Forum is a small trade union, but the views of the teachers of the Forum members are a good sample that can be used to get a clearer picture of the views of the employees in education. According to Markov, the practice of the Forum was to survey the membership on everything. That is precisely why he was aware in advance of the possible consequences of signing this agreement. Despite all the illogicalities, he claims that the agreement with the Government has positive sides.
"If we were to try to evaluate the Government's offer in a qualitative sense, we could say that it is slightly different compared to the proposal from the Presidency. I already said earlier that the proposal from the Presidency could have been a good starting point for further negotiations, with a change in the dynamics of the raise. The increase itself amounts to 21 percent on an annual basis, but hardly anyone can rely on trust in those who have lost it by not implementing the 2023 Protocol."
The positive side of the proposal, according to Markov, refers to the Special Collective Agreement. For the first time, this act defined that the teacher's salary is adjusted twice a year to the average salary, which is considered a positive development.
Because of all this, the discomfort and tension of educators is at a very high level. Whichever option you advocate - negotiations, a work stoppage or a full strike, there is no lack of pressure.
"It is not easy when the Minister of Education and the Prime Minister threaten an inspection, but so far it has turned out every time that the threats created the opposite effect and produced an even bigger rebellion. Did the negotiators get scared and therefore sign the agreement without first consulting the membership? This is a question for those who participated in the negotiations, and among them there are different profiles of experts. To make the situation more bizarre, our union had the right to two negotiators, one of whom was a pensioner, and no one knows how and why he was delegated. So I would be more inclined to think that some other motives influenced such an agreement, that fear was not decisive, at least when it comes to the representatives of the Education Workers' Union of Serbia", concludes Aleksandar Markov.
TENSION ALSO IN EPS UNIONS
The trade union "Nezavisnost" of Elektroprivreda Srbije, a branch at the Nikola Tesla Thermal Power Plant in Obrenovac, made a decision to go on strike last week, in solidarity with the demands of the students. The union hereby requested the fulfillment of all student demands, the determination of responsibility for the "catastrophic situation in the electric power industry" and the dismissal of the General Director of EPS, the entire Executive and Supervisory Board of EPS, the Assembly of the company, as well as the Minister of Mining and Energy.
The decision to go on strike was signed by Dragoslav Ljubičić, chief trustee of the trade union "Nezavisnost" - TENT branch, who was also appointed as the president of the Strike Committee. However, this move was short-lived. A day later, on Wednesday, January 15, Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) announced that the announcement of a strike by the trustees of TENT represents abuse of EPS for political purposes. It was emphasized that the call to suspend work represents "an attempt to manipulate the public by creating an untrue image that EPS workers participate in political events in the country." Then the TENT Trade Union and the Kolubara Mining Basin EPS branch issued statements stating that work continues at full capacity, as well as that politically motivated pressures on employees do not benefit anyone except a few political profiteers.
Goran Perišić from the Branch of the Kolubara Mining Basin said that the announcement about the continuation of work represents the attitude of the workers, and that, despite this, some of the employees support the student blockades, and that publicly. "We in Kolubara know what a strike means and how it is conducted, and that it is regulated by the Labor Law and the Collective Agreement, which state that it can only be initiated by the union. On Thursday, we are organizing a protest in which part of the employees will participate, as a sign of support for the students. We can do that from the Kolubara basin", explained Perišić.
BAR ASSOCIATION - THREE-DAY WORK SUSPENSION
The Board of Directors of the Bar Association of Serbia made a decision to suspend work for three days on January 21, 22 and 23, and that decision was a forced reaction to the decision of the High Court in Belgrade from January 20, which suspends the decision of the AKS from January 18 on the seven-day suspension of work, announced the Bar Association of Serbia. During this suspension, lawyers will not enter or stay in the premises of courts, prosecutor's offices, police, public notaries and bailiffs. During the suspension of work, lawyers will submit only submissions to the courts, prosecutor's offices and other authorities that are related to the occurrence of preclusion periods. Those actions, it was stated, represent the established minimum work necessary to protect the basic rights and interests of clients.
Previously, on January 20, the High Court in Belgrade determined a temporary measure by which it annulled the decision of the Assembly of the AKS on the complete suspension of work for seven days and ordered a minimum of work in urgent cases. The request to annul the decision of the Bar Association of Serbia was sent to the High Court by one of its members, lawyer Goran Petronijević.
The Secretary of the Administrative Board of the Bar Association, Nemanja Jovović, says that with these actions, lawyers want to support students and their demands, but it is important to point out that they also have some demands of their own, related to the work they do.
"The demands of the students also include the demands of the lawyers, for example, that the executive power does not interfere in the work of the judiciary, in the passing of laws. Some amendments to the Law were proposed by the authorities without prior consultation with the legal profession. Although we have representatives in the commissions, we had objections to those draft laws, but they were not respected", said Jovović.
As he says, the fear of rebellion and suspension of work was not present in the Bar Association, so the decision was made unanimously.
"The decision was made by the delegates, who have the task of representing the lawyers of the whole of Serbia, just as the people's deputies represent the citizens."
Arrests out of the blue, banishment from the country, beatings... All this happened to us in the last week alone. The Serbian Progressive Party, born from the foam left behind by their spiritual father Vojislav Šešelj, is returning to its roots. I can't escape from myself
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The return of radical violence subscribeThe archive of the weekly Vreme includes all our digital editions, since the very beginning of our work. All issues can be downloaded in PDF format, by purchasing the digital edition, or you can read all available texts from the selected issue.
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