Muddy water strike

By definition, a strike is a suspension of work by several employees and is usually the result of workers' dissatisfaction with the company's management. In the past, and especially during the industrial revolution, it became an important weapon in the struggle between employees and employers. It was also used for the purpose of democratizing society, in terms of achieving political demands. The organizers of the strike are usually unions, although it is not unheard of for them to be spontaneous reactions of a group of workers/employees.

Serbian society has different experiences with strikes. The last recorded strike in the true sense of the word, which drew the attention of the entire society, was the work stoppage at Fiat in 2017. It was organized by the trade union organizations Samostalac and Nezavisnosti with the support of their headquarters.

In the political sense, the last strike that had some result and consequences for Serbia was the general strike in Serbia in 2000. He gave birth Kolubara heroes, because the suspension of work in RB "Kolubara" was a tip in the balance in favor of democratic changes on October 5. This was not a strike organized by a union, but a work stoppage by disabling the mining machines was led by a group of courageous people; stoppage of tools for work, along with good political action on the ground, initiated the suspension of work of other employees in RBK, with the enormous help of citizens of Lazarevac, Arandjelovac and Obrenovac.

The government at the time filed criminal charges - which none of the "defendants" had ever seen - against five or six people, among whom the political activists Boris Tadić and Nebojša Čović, and several employees of RB "Kolubara" (Jovičić, later director of RBK) remained in the public eye. , the president of the miners' union Miodrag Ranković Pici, the president of the EPS union Milan Đorđević Đokin and others).

As a consequence of those criminal charges, the mysterious death of Judge Simeunović remained unexplained to this day.

LIST OF ABSURDITY

Why are "political strikes" important? The answer is simple. From the mentioned strike in Fiat (2017) until today, the public can only remember a few strikes in Serbia, and all of them are political and very absurd, because the government was on strike. The first such hunger strike is MP Martinović's, as a response to the action and actions of opposition MPs.

The second strike is again in "Kolubara". It was jointly led by the director of JP EPS, Milorad Grčić, and the president of the RB "Kolubara" trade union, the most numerous trade union organization within the EPS Workers' Union, Miodrag Ranković Pici, against the Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlović, and the president of the EPS Workers' Union. Milan Đorđević Đokina, because of the "strategy for the construction of TPP 'Kolubara' B".

The third absurd strike is the REM strike, which was organized by the President of the REM Council against the negative attitude of the public and pressures for the REM Council to start working in accordance with the public interest.

The latest is a two-hour protest and the stoppage of coal shipments from the Tamnava loading station, by being part of the EPS Workers' Union, which is led by one of the "feuding" brothers (Đokin and Pici are siblings), Miodrag Ranković Pici, against the director of Bank Poštanska štedionica, who I think that it is 100 percent owned by the state.

Allegedly, the director of that bank "blocked" the money of the solidarity fund and in this way, Ranković Pici claims, "prevents us from treating our sick colleagues." If it is taken into account that Miodrag Ranković Pici is an employee representative (illegitimate) in the Supervisory Board of AD EPS, which means that he is the government, then the absurdity is complete.

THE LOSERS, WINNERS AND AZDAJA

The only thing that the citizens of Serbia do not know is the fact that dinars from the earnings of employees in AD EPS, the so-called The Solidarity Fund was not seen, but is filled with money paid by the employer, which is established by Article 91 of the Collective Agreement for JP EPS (still valid). It says that: "to the solidarity fund of trade union organizations (which are part of the EPS Workers' Union) to provide medical assistance to employees, the Employer pays monthly to the fund account 0,7 percent of the amount of funds paid on behalf of the wages of employees, members of trade union organizations .

To the solidarity fund of the EPS Workers' Union, the Employer pays monthly 0,4 percent of the amount of funds paid on behalf of the wages of the Employer's employees, members of the Union."

From Article 91 of the Collective Agreement for JP EPS, it can be unequivocally concluded that each trade union organization by branches has its own Solidarity Fund account, but also that significant funds also exist in the disputed account of the trade union headquarters of the EPS Workers' Union, which at the moment living like a two-headed dragon - there are two presidents, several double vice-presidents each, dozens of duplicate members of the Main Board of that trade union, and by trade union organizations by branches (RBK, TENT, TE-KO Kostolac, Đerdap, Drinsko-Limske HE...) duplicate presidents, vice-presidents , GO members... And the membership is the same!

If it is taken into account that every employee in Serbia allocates funds from his salary to the health care fund, that the employer is also obliged to insure all employees, then the question arises of the actual purpose of those funds according to solidarity funds, i.e. where are the funds from RFZZ if the treatment of employees is "helped" from union funds?

And who is the real winner of these absurd strikes in Serbia?

The answer to this question is not easy, the winners are all those whom Đole Balašević called connoisseurs of tricks in his "Blues of Muddy Water", all those "barbels, perch, carp and banders, thieves and gendarmes" or "fish that live at the expense of others". . The losers are much simpler - they are those who watch silently or, even worse, who get caught on a jig or a worm on a bait, and finally, all those whose fate depends on big stupid perch, catfish on the bottom and pike on the top.

The author is a trade union activist and president of the departmental committee for trade union issues of SDS-ab