CONFEDERATION OF AUTONOMOUS
TRADE UNIONS OF SERBIA

A study visit to Norway, within POSTEN Project, was realized from March 2 to 4. Representatives of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (CATUS) and Romanian CNSL Cartel ALFA exchanged information with the trade union Solidaritet Norge in the field of posting workers. The aim of the visit was to transfer knowledge and experience, as well as to get acquainted with good practices in advocacy and protection of the rights of posted workers.

On March 9-10, 2022 in Belgrade Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia, in cooperation with the European Trade Union Institute, organized a seminar entitled „European Works Council for Candidate Countries“. Seminar was followed through the Zoom platform by the representatives of trade union confederations from North Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey, while our participants, trade union representatives from companies, whose headquarters are in the EU, took part in person.
CATUS representative Saša Torlaković, President of the Construction and Industry of Construction Materials Workers of Serbia, opened the seminar.

European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) called upon women to get unionised so that they would jointly fight for more rights and better position of women in the society.
On the occasion of March 8 – International Women’s Day, ETUC stresses that it will continue exerting huge pressure for the respect of women’s rights in the whole of Europe, but it also calls upon women to get unionised in order to get a better starting position.

Members of the Teachers’ Trade Union of Serbia, Teachers’ Trade Union of Serbia ‘Nezavisnost’ and the Trade Union of Education Workers of Serbia announced a protest on Saturday, March 12, at Nikola Pašić Square in Belgrade.
They informed the Minister of Education, Branko Ružić, about it and invited him to come to the protest in order to get acquainted with the problems of educators related to their social position.

Trade Union of Employees in Science of Serbia organized a protest at Nikola Pašić square. Scientists demand from the state to provide equal pay for equal work and secure jobs for all scientists and researchers.
After they got together, protesters went to the Government building where they submitted their demands.
As they explained, their problems started 11 years ago and they still haven’t been solved. They want steady jobs and equal pay for equal work, as well as better status at faculties and institutes.

Today Trade Union Academy of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia has officially started its work through the realization of the first seminar, which was attended by the representatives of the Youth and Women Sections.
The importance and improvement of social dialogue, procedures and phases of collective bargaining, negotiations about the salaries and other benefits covered by the collective agreement, as well as the effects of the pandemic on the labour market and employees’ economic status were the topics at the seminar.

At a recent protest, organized by the Autonomous Trade Union of Employees in Pre-School Institutions of Serbia, the activists asked for an urgent establishment of a Work group that will work to solve their problems. There were 5,000 people who first gathered in front of the building of the Ministry of Education and later they went to the Government of Serbia. The protesters carried banner saying ‘We haven’t brought you up to behave like that’ and said that their salaries were 2.5 times lower than the average.

Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić is sure that the company Fiat will stay in Serbia in the following period. She told this to the President of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia, Ljubisav Orbović and representatives of the trade union organization Fiat Automobiles Serbia who initiated the meeting.
This piece of information could reduce the tensions which have circulated lately among the employees in the factory in Kragujevac.

A year ago when the information about Fiat workers going away from Kragujevac appeared for the first time, there were extreme differences in opinion. Some claimed it was a well paid job in the factory Peugeot-Citroen in Trnava (Slovakia) while others warned that the gesture of Fiat management confirmed their long-standing doubts about the factory in Kragujevac ending its work there.

President of Teachers’ Trade Union of Serbia Valentina Ilić asked the Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and Ministers of Education and Finance, Branko Ružić and Siniša Mali for an urgent meeting related to the improvement of economic status of employees in education. Otherwise, trade union would take all measures of trade union struggle, including strike.
Ilić pointed to the fact that due to the pay system in the public sector being unorganized, untransparent and unjust and a delay in the implementation of salary bands, state hasn’t expressed good will to take a realistic look...

More informed workers are – less their rights are violated!
Research shows that labour rights are closely connected to the violation of rights and active struggle for rights.
Workers are relatively passive when it comes to looking for and checking information on labour rights while they are more active when they think their rights are violated or when they are not sure which rights they have.

At the protest in front of the Government of Serbia, held on January 31, 2022, Trade Union of Employees in Science and Research Institutions of Serbia presented their demands. Namely, they asked for equal pay of all employees in science and all those working with fixed-term contracts to sign new ones in line with the law. Demands were submitted to the Government and the deadline for responses is February 7.

While in the third quarter of the last year employees in the EU worked 37 hours on average, an average work week in Serbia lasted 43.5 hours, which is the longest on the old continent.
Apart from Serbia, employees in Bulgaria, Romania, Greece and Poland also worked more than 40 hours. According to the Eurostat analysis, work week in Montenegro lasted 44 hours on average and 40.7 in North Macedonia

Trade union organisation Zastava Arms warns that the coronavirus pandemic decimated the number of factory workers, which damages the production process. The number of the infected is increasing daily causing many workers to take a sick leave.
At the moment there are 330 infected workers out of the total of 2,450. The infection has lately exploded. Every day between 30 and 50 workers get infected.

Members and activists of the CATUS Youth Section made a series of short videos in order to bring trade union and Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia closer to the public. Playlist ‘Trade Union from Youth Perspective’ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmmiq0O7ui-Q6KAU-sYQzb4PGKcuKGiJJ contains their short answers covering issues such as: ‘Why trade union?’, ‘Trade union and youth’, ‘We learn about labour rights’ and others.

Since January 1 conditions for age-based retirement for women have been made more severe. The age limit was extended by two months. Namely, the new condition for women will be 63 years and 4 months of age and at least 15 years of registered service. For men nothing has changed – 65 years of age and at least 15 years of registered service. According to the statements of the National Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, the insured of both sexes can exercise their right to pension if they have 45 years of service, regardless of their age.

At the end of December 2021 in the Ministry of Culture of Serbia branch collective agreement, covering cultural institutions founded by the Republic of Serbia, Autonomous Province and local self-government unit, was signed. The agreement was signed by the Autonomous Trade Union of Culture; Branch Trade Union of Culture, Art and Media – NEZAVISNOST; Confederation of Free Trade Unions and Government of Serbia.

Teachers’ Trade Union of Serbia is dissatisfied because the amendments to five laws covering education were introduced without the union being informed about it. In the letter to the Minister of Education, Branko Ružić, President of this Trade Union, Valentina Ilić explained the union was not even asked for an opinion.
The union believes it is impermissible to propose amendments to the legislation in education, which directly affect workers' position, without a public debate and trade union participation.

This is the last text within the DiDaNet Project, coordinated by Austrian Trade Union Confederation OGB and supported by Austrian Ministry for Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection.
Global digital platforms have led the way in introducing algorithms and artificial intelligence into the world of work.

In February next year the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Culture and Information will start working intensively with trade unions of workers in media on finding adequate methods to improve and protect labour rights of journalists.
Trade unions of workers in media are supposed to establish a work group which would define key problems while employers would be obliged to found their association.

On the occasion of December 2, International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, the ILO estimated there were more than 40 million people around the world in modern slavery, including approximately 25 million people in forced labour and 15.4 in forced marriages.
Going deeper into the analysis, as it is said, it means that there are 5.4 victims of modern slavery per 1,000 people, while every fourth victim is a child.

What does digitalization mean for employees today? What are the challenges workers face, whose work, work price, and working conditions depend on the algorithms that channel and monitor their work and "give" them work ̶ ¬ or "exclude" them from the workplace? These issues were the focus of the final conference of the Digital Danube Network (DiDaNet) project organized by the Federation of Trade Unions of Austria (ÖGB) held on September 30 in Vienna.
The final conference, which discussed working conditions and ways to improve the position of gig workers in the platform economy...

At this week’s meeting organized in the premises of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia between the CATUS Presidency, presidents of branch unions , local unions and Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Brnabić, Finance Minister, Siniša Mali and Labour Minister, Darija Kisić Tepavčević, it was concluded that the state needed to provide for consistent respect of the right to the freedom of association and decent work, as well as to include trade union positions regarding minimum wage growth and pay rise when planning the budget.

On October 29, 2021 at the regular session of the Social-Economic Council (SEC) social partners agreed on the need to amend the Article 188 of the Labour Law and sent their request to SEC standing bodies to be reviewed. SEC accepted the initiative of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia to amend this article.
CATUS thinks that the current definition of the Article 188 doesn’t provide for adequate protection of trade union representatives and members in their...

After workers have come back from their two-week paid leave, the production of the model 500L in the factory ‘FIAT Chrysler Serbia’ resumed. According to the autonomous factory trade union in Kragujevac, the production resumed in two shifts and in full capacity, which means that up to 200 vehicles are made per shift.

Participation in the Working Group for the Drafting of the Law on Flexible Forms of Employment will enable the representatives of two main trade union confederations – Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia – SSSS, Trade Union Confederation NEZAVISNOST – UGS NEZAVISNOST and Association of Internet Workers - URI to react if there are any harmful proposals, as is the case with the Law on Simplified Work Engagement on Seasonal Jobs in Certain Activities, but it cannot guarantee that it will prevent the adoption of the law even if it is obvious it is poor.

Around the world, young people with few job options are forced to take whatever work they can find, no matter how low the pay or insecure the work. Many sign on with platform-based jobs to get by. Others leave their country with the hope of finding decent, secure work elsewhere, looking for a chance to fairly compete on a level playing field. The latest Solidarity Center Podcast takes a look at what’s happening in Serbia, where one in four young people are not employed and not in school, and how unions there are meeting the challenges.

For almost two years employees in education have been working in pandemic conditions and maintaining educational processes in the state of emergency. The number of students is unknown while the Government and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development are insensitive to trade union’s appeals that teachers are finacially and professionally humiliated.
At the session held on August 27, 2021 National Committee of the Teachers’ Trade Union of Serbia discussed the current situation and position of employees and decided to ask for negotiations with the...

Considering that the existing definition of the Article 188 of the Labour Law doesn’t provide trade union representatives and members with sufficient support when working on trade union issues, which practically puts them into an unfavourable position due to their employment contract being terminated by the employer, Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia sent to the Social and Economic Council the initiative to amend this Article of the Labour Law

"The primary goal of the CATUS is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity" - said Ljubisav Orbović, President of CATUS, at today's World day for decent work 2021: "Just jobs- Building a recovery for everyone"

According to the instructions given by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of Serbia, students should avoid direct contact in their school activities and follow lessons in real time over a selected learning system (platform) or some other electronic communication channels and programs.

Public discussion on Draft Law on Seasonal Work finished without attracting much attention from the media. Trade unions and some experts believe that it deprives workers of their rights, legal protection and allows the employment of foreigners without a contract. The Ministry of Labour and Serbian Employers’ Association (SEA) say this is not true and the new law will enable faster and easier employment, reduction of informal economy and budget increase.

Once again the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia demands from the authorities to urgently start the ratification process for the ILO Convention 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work. Initiative is widely supported by institutions and individuals in Serbia, which is a confirmation that the ratification of the Convention 190 and its Recommendation 206 is an important link in the improvement of Serbian labour and social legislation

STOP PANDEMIC
Project promotion officially started on April 14 in the CATUS Presidency. The project was realized thanks to the PanEuropean Regional Council (PERC) office in Sarajevo and Swedish trade union support program ‘Union to Union’. The fist activity was related to the International and National OHS Day on April 28, i.e. campaign organized around the cities in Serbia and aimed at raising the awareness of...

“Trade Unions through Challenges of the Past and Future” is the title of the book which was promoted last week in Belgrade. The authors of this book are Jelena Ranković, a journalist and Jugoslav Ristić, President of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of the City of Kragujevac.

It was necessary for freelancers to take to the streets in 2020 in order to completely expose the anachronism of the Law on Personal Income Tax and the inequalities it produces. Today, it is quite certain that there is enough knowledge and enough interlocutors - from freelancers themselves to research institutions, tax experts and unions ready to enter into dialogue, not only on the disputed law, but also on the issue of regulating non-standard forms of work as a whole. However, the Government of Serbia, which announced that the Law on Flexible Work will enter into force in 2022, is still not announced.

Lacking clear guidelines from the International Labor Organization and the European Commission, courts and national legislators in Europe are doing their best to answer the question of whether gig workers working through digital platforms, either on-site or remotely, are employees or self-employed. However, different business models and insufficient understanding of the nature of work across platforms often lead to conflicting views of decision-makers. This can further lead to diminishing gig workers’ labor rights, warned domestic and international labor law experts at the June roundtable, organized online by the Public Policy Research Center.

At the workshop ‘Occupational Health and Safety’ which was held in the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of the City of Niš, it was stressed that for the past seven months 26 fatal injuries had been recorded. The workshop was organized by the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia under the auspices of the AFL-CIO Solidarity Center.

Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (CATUS) and TUC NEZAVISNOST don’t give up their demand on minimum wage increase for 2022 and they estimate that the Government of Serbia, i.e. President Aleksandar Vučić, will decide about this, like it happened last year.
As CATUS Council Secretary Zoran Mihajlović explained, there are three types of minimum wage increase.

Due to decades-long destruction of the sector and state’s unfavourable attitude towards employees in cultural institutions, employees were brought to a difficult financial and social position, said the President of the Trade Union of Culture, Dragana Đorđević.
Despite the fact that even 62% of employees have a university degree, average salary in culture amounts to 48, 199RSD, which tells a lot about the state of culture, as well as the state’s attitude towards...

At the joint meeting held on July 6 representative trade unions of employees in public services, scientific-research branch, public administration and justice of the Republic of Serbia pointed out to employees’ bad financial situation and demanded that state bodies should apply urgent measures to alleviate difficulties.
Trade unions demand the amendment to the Decree on co-efficients for the calculation and payment of salaries of public sector employees, pay rise by a percentage that is higher than the percentage planned for minimum wage rise and setting up the amount for hot meal and vacation bonus.

Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia, TUC NEZAVISNOST and Center for the Politics of Emancipation invite citizens, social movements and NGOs to support trade union demands for the minimum wage increase to the level of minimum consumer basket. Mid-August representatives of Employers’ Association, Serbian Government and trade unions will start negotiations on the minimum wage in the Social-Economic Council and the amount of next year’s minimum wage will be determined till September 15 at the latest.

All workers of the service company Sloboda from Čačak came back to work. From now on this factory continues its complete production which was interrupted because of a huge explosion that happened on the shop floor, says the Autonomous Trade Union. Around 410 workers of Sloboda who are employed in the pyrotechnics department start working today while others started working last Thursday.
Company Sloboda employs 2,000 people.

First instance court in Ruma passed the judgement to annul the termination of employment contract of Dragana Božić, shop steward of trade union organization in the factory „HealthCare Europe“ and orders the employer to reinstate her at her work post.
This court thinks that Dragana’s dismissal, which forces her to move to an inappropriate work post and is exclusively caused by her trade union activities, is illegal and the employer is obliged to allow her to go back to work.

Acting on the order of the Labour Inspection, management of the factory Aptiv from Leskovac made a decision to reintroduce the 8-hour shift, instead of the 12-hour one. In the talks with the Autonomous Metal Workers Union of Serbia (AMUS), they said they made a mistake.
AMUS President, Zoran Marković told the media that 8-hour working time would be introduced on July 5 and additional bonuses were provided.

Talks between trade union and Zijin company about the new collective agreement will continue so that it could be signed soon – this is the epilogue of the meeting held between the Minister of Mining and Energy, Zorana Mihajlović and trade union representative in Zijin company.
Trade union representatives say they are supported by the government and the guarantee is their presence at the meeting with company representatives.

Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia calls upon all employers and employees to apply preventive occupational health and safety measures at high temperatures so that the risk to employees’ health would be reduced. When the air temperature goes over 36°C, employees who are working in the open, such as workers in construction and agriculture, are actually working in disadvantageous working conditions, which can affect their health in a negative way.

Aware of the increasingly intense decline of workers’ and social rights brought on by the flexibilization of work, the United Branch Trade Unions “Independence” (UGS NEZAVISNOST) and the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia (SSSS), in cooperation with the Serbian Association of Employers, organized a panel discussion on May 19, 2021, called DigiDay – Open Day, gathering representatives of relevant organizations and experts, but also workers engaged on platforms.<

At the round table ‘Influence of the Pandemic on Employees in the Republic of Serbia’ organized by the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia it was pointed out that Corona intensified and deepened inequalities and poverty in the society. Also, it put physical and mental health of the population at risk because of which economic and OHS measures are necessary.

Even though a compromise has been reached, for the time being, the question arises whether this is just the lull before a new storm or just one of the battles in the “war” between the Tax Administration and workers on the internet.
On April 28, 2021, members of the Serbian Parliament adopted the Law on Amendments to the Law on Personal Income Tax and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Contributions for Mandatory Social Insurance, which significantly reduced the debt based on the income of freelancers accrued from 2015 to end of 2021. As announced...

There is proof that Covid-19 is a systematic disease that affects all organs and all tissues and due to this it should become a professional disease. At the round table organized by the CATUS it was pointed out that health workers, who were most burdened by the pandemic, were actually at most risk of getting infected.

This is great news for all employees – last year’s annual leave is valid till the end of June 2022.
This is especially important for doctors and nurses working in the covid system as they haven’t been able to take a single day off for almost two years. Aleksandar Stojanović, a Director of the Health Center Palilula assures that everybody will be able to take holiday, no pressure whatsoever.

As a socially responsible organization, Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia focuses on the issue whether there is a possibility to include COVID-19 into the list of professional diseases in order to protect primarily health workers who risk their lives in the fight against corona virus.
We think that the decision to include COVID-19 into the list of professional diseases would considerably improve workers’ financial status, having in mind that professional diseases are treated in a way that a worker is provided with a 100% compensation of salary during the sick leave...

After many months of negotiations the company ‘Gorenje Valjevo’ signed a collective agreement with the Autonomous Metal Workers’ Trade Union – Trade Union ‘Gorenje doo Valjevo’ and Association of Free and Independent Trade Unions – Trade Union ‘ASNS Gorenje’. This is the second collective agreement, valid for three years.

More than a half of goals that are defined by the three-year Decent Work Program for the Republic of Serbia have already been achieved or are in the process of being achieved, said the ILO Coordinator for Serbia, Jovan Protić.
‘Drafting the new Labour Law will definitely be put on hold because the Ministry of Labour won’t start working on it till the end of the next year’, he explained.

Association of Pensioners’ Trade Unions of Serbia sent an appeal to the Government representatives and line ministries to stop further sales of Serbian spas and rehabilitation centers that were mostly built with the money paid for the contributions of today’s pensioners i.e. employees at the time. As they say in the letter sent to the line ministries of labour, tourism, finance, economy, the sales of specialized hospitals should be stopped and re-examined because their transfer into private ownership would considerably hinder treatment and recovery.

Application ‘Labour Rights for You’ is meant to be used by young people who are finishing secondary school education or their studies at the faculty and are about to step into the labour market. But it is also meant to be used by experienced workers who want to additionally consolidate their knowledge.
Recently there have been fewer and fewer regular jobs. There is an increasing number of young workers on precarious and untypical jobs.

Within DiDaNet Project (Digital Danube Network), TU Confederations from Austria, Slovenia, Serbia, Moldavia and Ukraine cooperate on subject of digitalisation in connection with the challenges and opportunities arising from the development in the labour market. One of the risks of digitalisation are precarious working conditions which primarily affect platform workers who are basically forced into bogus self-employment and who do not have adequate social protection.

Once again Coronavirus epidemic has prevented us from traditionally getting together in the streets and at the squares to send the message that we shall not agree to low salaries, limitless working hours and to demand safe work and labour rights; we shall not tolerate exploitation, oppressive measures and dismissals of trade union activists. Every day and on every occasion we shall keep on demanding the same thing – dignity of work and workers.

On the occasion of April 27 – CATUS Day, a ceremonial session of the CATUS Council was organised in order to mark the 118th anniversary of our organisation.
Besides the members of Council, Statutory and Auditing Committees, presidents of trade union federations and regional trade union councils, the session was also attended by the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs of Serbia Darija Kisić Tepavčević...

Works on the streets in the center of Belgrade are taking too long. Not only does it cause problems for citizens, who often avoid Dušanova street, but also employers who can’t find qualified work force. In order to put the pieces together, it’s necessary to find good workers and pay them adequately.
As the President of the Trade Union of Road Maintenance Industry Workers of Serbia - Duško Bošković says, sometimes a whole group of workers goes to Germany, 10-15 of them.

Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia tends to raise not only employees’, but also employers’ and authority’s awareness so that healthy and safe working conditions would be secured at the time of pandemic, said the CATUS Council Vice-President Duško Vuković.
Together with the representatives of the Confederation of Trade Unions of the City of Novi Sad, headed by the President Vladimir Gvozdenović, he pointed out to the citizens the importance of occupational health and safety...

As workers of the factory ‘Fiat Plastic’ are asking their employer to reinstate last year’s salary level, Autonomous Trade Union announced that the strike would be radicalised and a big gathering on April 24 in front of the City Council building in Kragujevac would be organised. President of the Trade Union and Strike Committee Zoran Miljković said that workers from Fiat factory in Kragujevac and cooperative firms are also expected to come.

Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia organised the promotion of the occupational health and safety where citizens were acquainted with the importance of proper prevention so that they would save their lives and health at work.
This event marks the beginning of the international project, entitled ‘Actions and Campaigns of Trade Unions for safer jobs – Stop pandemics’ and carried out through the support of PanEuropean Regional Council...

Work from home has become the topic that trade unions, workers, employers, but also legislators deal with. The importance of this issue has been shown by a regional OHS workshop which has recently been organised with the support of the American Solidarity Center (AFL-CIO).
During the last year’s pandemic when the economy came to a standstill a significant number of employers sent their employees to work from home.

The main topic of the second dialogue with the EU National Convention, held on March 29 through video link, was the realization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within economic and social indicators and protection of health conditions.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, who took part in the meeting, announced the establishment of a cross-sector group which will deal with SDGs envisaged by the UN 2030 Agenda.

Trade unions are asking the ILO Conference, which will be held in June 2021, to raise the OHS to the level of international labour standards, increase the responsibility of governments and employers and insist that more countries ratify key OHS Conventions.
This way the promises given in 2019 in the ILO Centenary Declaration, which was unanimously adopted by the governments, trade unions and employers, would be kept and workers’ health and safety would be protected.

National Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes marked its 15th anniversary. The event, as well as the opening of the first interactive training for conciliators and arbiters, was attended by the CATUS President, Ljubisav Orbović.
Up to now the Agency has resolved about 20,000 disputes out of which 19,000 are individual, which means that citizens became aware of Agency’s importance and reliability. This assessment is shared by the Minister of Labour, Employment, Veteran and Social Affairs, Darija Kisić Tepavčević.

Extensive powers provided by the Labour Law are used by the employers to ‘write’ annual leave request forms while the shops are closed and thus reduce the already minimum number of days planned for annual leave.
Many workers had the duration of their annual leave halved while employers justify it by saying that these days would be lost anyway as they have to be used no later than June 30.

Social and Economic Council of the Republic of Serbia has unanimously supported the Initiative of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia aimed at ratification of the ILO Convention 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment at work.

Workers in FCA Serbia were offered to apply to work for a year in a Slovakian factory Trnava where Peugeot 208 and Citroen C3 are produced. Company “Stellantis”, which besides Fiat includes several globally known automobile producers, offered workers from the factory in Kragujevac to acquire work experience in Slovakia.
They were offered the same salary as the workers in Slovakia, but also a bonus upon arrival and departure. At the moment registration is under way and allegedly it is voluntary. The offer stands for the total of 400 workers.

Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia joins global campaign for the elimination of violence against women and demands that urgent and decisive steps are taken. We demand from the Government of the Republic of Serbia to urgently initiate the ratification procedure for the ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment in the world of work which was

Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia points out that the draft of the Seasonal Employment Law regulating seasonal and temporary work in certain industries completely abolishes fundamental labour rights stemming from employment, makes the existence of the Labour Law pointless and transforms workers into permanent seasonal, i.e. temporary workers.

The eleventh meeting of the EU-Serbia Civil Society Joint Consultative Committee (JCC) took place in February. Current situation of the relationship between EU and Serbia and negotiations in the EU accession process, EC Progress Report 2020, situation in civil society and rule of law were discussed at the meeting. JCC adopted Joint Declaration with 17 votes for and one abstention vote.

There are more women than men working in professions that are low paid – health, social protection and now we realize how important these sectors actually are and I hope that these professions will be much more respected’, estimated the Commissioner for Protection of Equality, Brankica Janković. In her interview for the National News Janković explained that in her job she regularly encountered the complaints of young women who could not find work precisely because they were young and employers’ first thought was that the woman would soon go on her maternity leave.

In Serbia work from home is a forced option that emerged during the pandemic. However, as long as it is justified as a protection from infection, more and more employees think that employers expect them to be available all the time, says the President of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia Ljubisav Orbović for biznis.rs.

The validity of the branch collective agreement (BCA) covering road maintenance industry workers has been extended for another three years. The agreement was signed in the premises of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia.
On the behalf of the Autonomous Trade Union of Road Maintenance Industry Workers and representative Association of Employers in Road Maintenance Industry ‘PUTAR’, Duško Bošković and Zvonimir Marković signed the agreement.

As it had been earlier announced, 2021-2026 Employment Strategy was supposed to be adopted till the end of January and a public debate was organised to discuss this strategic document. In the meantime positions of ministries were gathered and now the Social and Economic Council is expected to make a final decision, after which the draft will be presented for adoption.
The main goal is to enable continuous employment growth and special attention will be paid to vulnerable groups: youth, women, people with disabilities. CATUS representatives took part in the creation of this document but it is to be...

Data gathered by the Trade Union of Doctors and Pharamcists of Serbia (SLFS) confirm that up to now 73 doctors have died and the list of deaths keeps growing.
Infectologists, Lejla Ćeranić, who at one point during the most severe epidemiologic wave was the only specialist of infectology in Novi Pazar hospital, and Jovana Milić, associate-scientist at the Unversity of Modena and Reggio Emilia, say that there are many reasons which contributed to a huge number of deceased people - from fatigue to the lack of routine tests for health workers.

Around the world corona virus pandemic had the biggest effect on tourism and it seems that catering and event organizing industry experienced the most severe impact. Results that Serbian tourism achieved in the record-breaking 2019 were promising that the following year tourism in Serbia would have its most successful season.

New state aid package for the economy and citizens which is supposed to alleviate the consequences caused by the pandemic will also include the unemployed, announced by ‘Večernje novosti’.
As we have found out, this vulnerable category of citizens will receive a certain sum while the Government of the Republic of Serbia is intensively working in order to define proposals and decide on the amount which will be allocated for this purpose.

We got the news from Bor that on the occasion of signing the new collective agreement the management of the company „Zijin copper Bor” plans to cancel numerous extra payments and thus considerably decrease workers’ monthly salaries. The company’s “offer” was assessed by the unions as “indecent and unacceptable”. Majority owner of the Bor company is the Chinese corporation „Zijin“, with 63% of ownership, while the remaining 37% are owned by the Serbian Government.

On the occasion of the protest of the Association of Workers on Internet, scheduled on January 16, 2021, the CATUS issued the following statement:
“We extend our support to all workers who have been courageously acquiring their knowledge and work experience in the tough global competition over Internet. Being exposed to everyday competition from around the world, they have been supporting their family members and themselves, while contributing to the resources and reputation of the Republic of Serbia...

The amount, equalling to 30,367 dinars (257 euros) was paid yesterday to all employees whose companies (12,037 of them) had been entitled to such assistance. The total number of beneficiaries, working mostly in tourist and rent-a-car agencies, restaurants and hotels, is 72,500 and they will be paid through special bank accounts. The action is to be continued until February 15 next year, after which the accounts will be closed.

At the invitation of the CATUS, the Council Vice-President, Duško Vuković, and the President of the Association of Workers on Internet, Miran Pogačar, discussed the acute problems of workers on the Internet and considered the ways to expand their cooperation.

This December employees in the public sector will get a pay rise, which means that basic amount for the calculation and payment of their January pay in 2021 will be increased by 10% and thus fixed, it will be higher by 5% starting from December 2020 pay.

Workers who left the entreprises taking a social program ‘two years to pension’ and ‘five years to pension’ will no longer pay penalty points for their acquired pension, but in the future the pension will be paid in full amount.
This was agreed at the meeting with the Minister of Labour, Veteran and Social Affairs, Darija Kisić Tepavčević, President and Seceretary of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia, Ljubisav Orbović and Zoran Mihajlović.

Having in mind that factories, entreprises and institutions around Serbia are increasingly becoming the focus of corona virus epidemic, Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia is taking the initiative to include regional and local representatives of social partners in the crisis headquarters responsible for the elimination of COVID-19.

The annex allowing a 100% compensation of the salary in case of COVID-19 infection was signed by the representatives of trade unions of culture and the authorities.
This extremely important addition to the branch collective agreement provides the employees with 100% salary, which is calculated on the basis of the average salary they earned in 12 months preceding the month when a temporary impediment to work due to the confirmed COVID-19...

The number of dismissed workers has risen to 19, as the company tries to justify its move by the effects of the corona virus pandemic. The unions reacted immediately insisting on the obligation of employers not to dismiss anyone after receiving financial assistance from the government. They reject the employers’ explanation saying they employed more workers than it was stipulated by an agreement signed with the government and point out to 7,500 euros the government granted to company for each new work place.

Struggle against the violation of workers’ rights and the exploitation can never be totally obfuscated by the nationalist rhetoric. Confronted with rapacious local politicians plundering for years the ex-workers property in Serbian southern Autonomous Province, the trade union of Kosovo postal and Telecom employees (PTK) organized an impressive rally in front of the provincial government and asked for the unblocking of the company’s bank account and payment of all outstanding wages.

On November 10, the management informed the staff about a new program of voluntary retirement, promising a redundancy package better than one prescribed by the Labour Law. At the same time, they announced a decrease in salaries from December to March next year, the exact amount of which would vary depending on the position held in the company. Although the news is still to be officially confirmed, the calculations hinting at 300 redundancies have already been made.

The protest letter dealing with the retroactive payment of taxes and a regulation of the freelancers’ status, was handed over to the Ministry of Finance. The employees’ association is rather new – it was established only last month, after the Tax Department had announced that all those who had been paid by foreign clients for their work via Internet, would have to pay taxes and contributions to social funds for last five years!

Although the number of employees working from home in Serbia has been constantly growing and is currently three times higher than at the outbreak of the pandemic, the telework has not been regulated so far. In a recent interview, the well-known expert in labour relations, employed in the Institute of Social Sciences, Nada Novakovic, spoke about difficulties that the lack of regulation implied and the possibility of amending the existing Labour Law.

Not long ago we celebrated the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, with 130 million persons added to the existing list of 690 million already suffering from hunger. At the same time, the risk of poverty rate (or social exclusion rate) in Serbia in 2019 reached the appalling 23.2%, However, some optimism was brought by the fact that it was 1.1% less than a year before, according to the Republic Statistical Office.

Mario Reljanovic, our famous expert in labour relations, has recently commented on the fact that, according to a Government inquiry, the number of unemployed decreased by 87,400 in the second semester of this year. It’s true, he says, that certain number of doctors and nurses were employed during the Covid-19 crisis, but it’s also a fact that many unemployed who lost their job were not registered in the Central Register, due to the informal nature of their work.

The majority of them (one third) work in the private sector, which was badly affected by the pandemic. On the other hand, only 11% of them were granted an increase, reads the resume of an inquiry conducted by the CATUS in six ex-YU countries - a fact highly predictable in a region with poor social dialogue and everlasting employers’ hegemony.

Wages in Serbia could be higher if the employers were ready to share a part of their profit with the employees, said Orbovic on the occasion of the World Day of Decent Work celebration in Belgrade.
Part of his analysis was dedicated to the rhythm of growth of workers’ and employers’ income showing a highly disturbing trend.

The absence of social dialogue might lead to a strike at Belgrade airport, said the trade union representatives. A few days ago the company management informed workers that those whose work contracts expire at the end of October will lose their jobs. The decision, reasoned by a “decline in business activity”, was followed by a social program intended for those willing to resign voluntarily.

In an announcement of the Autonomous Trade Union in “Zastava Arms” (affiliated to the CATUS) it is said that workers condemned the decisions related to the dismissal of managers in the production (a director and two other managers) and were ready to prevent further harassment of employees and trade union members.

In Serbia, the coronavirus pandemic has led to a decline in working hours during the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to the loss of 510,000 full-time jobs. However, by offering the most generous and comprehensive economic package among the Western Balkan economies, the Serbian government contained “the expansion of poverty”, according to the new rapid assessment report, joint work of the ILO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

Workers don’t know how long they will be working, but at the moment there is some work to be done. They are coming back after a paid leave and collective annual leave. However, it is not known how many days they’ll spend in the production hall. What we do know is that the factory management is authorised by the government to send workers to a paid leave till the end of the current month.

President of the Employers’ Club “Privrednik”, Zoran Drakulic, made some interesting comments on the minimum wage negotiation process and warned about dangers we might face during the painful recovery period. He said he was aware that we are in the middle of an extremely serious crisis, exacerbating employers’ feeling of anxiety and fears of what future might bring.

Serbian Minister of Finance, Mali, announced that the last payment, amounting to 18,000 dinars (150 euros) will be made on September 8. Meant at mitigating the hard consequences of the corona-virus pandemic, it will be paid to more than one million workers, employed in 235,000 enterprises. It’s the second payment within the last of the two “assistance packages”, each payment equaling 60% of the statutory minimum salary.

As negotiations among the representatives of trade unions, employers’ association and government ended up without success, a new round starting on September 1 has been announced. According to domestic regulation, the talks should be over by September 15 and their failure would trigger government action and a special law on the subject. Currently, round 350,000 people in Serbia live on the minimum wage.

In the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia they are of the opinion that the country will benefit from West European investors’ plans to safeguard their supply chains by transferring production from non-European countries to Europe. Because of their comparative advantages, the West Balkan markets might be of special interest for them.
Generally speaking, the investments in Serbia have not fallen down to a level which might cause anxiety.

Serbian pensioners still stick to the promise of President Vucic given during the electoral campaign and hope that after a long period of fiscal consolidation (2014-2019), when pensions were first reduced and then “frozen”, they won’t be subject to some new government restrictive measures again. Vucic namely promised that “Serbia will pass through corona crisis more smoothly than other countries, without reduction of pensions and salaries in public sector”.

Debate on the efficiency of the “gift” (100 euros) the government gave to all full-of-age citizens before the elections, is still going on. Having in mind that the national GDP might contract by 3% this year and army of unemployed increased by new 30,000 to 50,000 members, its rationality is really controversial.

During first phase of the pandemic, the government assistance to companies – meant to help them heal worst consequences of the economic crisis - was given indiscriminately. This time, it will be given only to small and medium enterprises. The former are those worth not more than 4 million euros, earning up to 8 million euros a year and having less than 50 workers. The latter are the ones whose value is not exceeding 20 million euros, with the profit up to 40 million euros and staff limited to 250 workers.

As COVID-19 epidemic opened up the issue of sick leave/furlough bonus, as well as the need to regulate more frequent work from home, representative of trade union confederations agree that rules of the game need to be determined.
Vice-President of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia, Duško Vuković, says that the amount of bonus is the biggest problem in case somebody gets infected. In the whole of public sector, he says, this bonus amounts to 100% of salary, except for the sector of culture.

Since July 21, 2020 workers of FIAT Chrysler Serbia have been on paid leave which will be linked to their collective annual leave, meaning they won’t come back to the factory till the beginning of September.
As paid leave had been approved by the Government, it is to be seen whether the workers will keep on resting even after September because it all depends on the the automobile industry market where the situation doesn’t look bright.

On June 30th, 2020 in the Trade Union House the 16th Congress of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia was held. Congress was attended by 296 delegates and around 150 guests. All the preparations were done with due respect of protective measures and physical distance.
Congress of the oldest and largest trade union confederation, which marks its 117th anniversary, conveyed a joint message Experience with us, Future ahead of us!

At a meeting held with representatives of the employers, the new government program “My first salary”, aimed at increasing employment of the youth, was presented by the Prime Minister, Brnabic, Minister of Finance, Mali, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Cadez and Director of the National Employment Service, Martinovic. By partially covering employers’ costs for wages, the government will help young people overcome the most difficult moment in their professional caree...

The second wave of corona virus epidemic with a repetition of all things we’ve already seen (closure of factories and shops, quarantines and a broad lockdown) would have much more serious repercussions on Serbian economy than the first one. Asked to give their judgment on that issue the experts are almost unanimous: a come-back of the corona virus would bring us mass dismissals and a considerable reduction of wages.

The corona crisis has negatively affected all the world's economies and they are now looking for the ways that might help them return to the old levels of production, as quickly and as safely as possible. In the neighboring Croatia, they are seriously considering the German model of "Kurzarbeit", i.e. a reduced working week, which helped many work places there to survive.

Tomorrow the government will start to pay out minimum wages (30.000 dinars i.e. 254 euros) to one million employees working in Serbian SMEs. The money (32 billion dinars i.e. 271.186 million euros, in total) will be deposited to the accounts of 232.000 companies. The initial payment was made at the beginning of May and the third will follow the first week of July. All payments will cost the government more than 800 million euros, the money being a part of a huge 5.1 billion euro plan aimed at rescuing Serbian economy.

More than 400,000 Serbian workers left their jobs in EU countries and came back to Serbia following the outbreak of the corona virus epidemic.
Last year, according to the World Bank estimates, our employees working abroad remitted 4,16 billion dollars to Serbia, which was enough to cover two thirds of its foreign trade deficit and more than enough to considerably raise the living standard of the recipients

The strongest economies in the euro-zone (and at the same time the most important trade partners of Serbia) have been severely hit by the corona virus pandemic. In Germany and Austria, where around 750,000 Serbian citizens live and work, the economy has been at a stand-still for almost two months and the unemployment increased by more than 10%

An analysis made by SeConS Group and Friedrich Ebert Foundation has shown that 200.000 Serbian workers (many of them working in informal sector and as self-employed) lost their jobs during the pandemic and the state of emergency. The research was made on a sample of 1.600 people who still worked in February this year.
Half of them were dismissed because their company stopped working and one quarter because they were not offered a new contract after the expiry of the previous one.

As journalists were told by the Autonomous Trade Union in the company (affiliated to the CATUS), the fact that company asked for an additional leave for workers in Kragujevac factory, could mean they hoped the leave, which was supposed to last till May 18, might be prolonged almost till autumn.

While 40% of Serbian citizens said they didn’t need any help in the critical situation caused by the pandemic of corona virus, more than a half, precisely 55% expressed their need to get financial aid, shows the research conducted by the MASMI – the international agency for market and public opinion research.
A half of population able to work and older than 16 (with students and pensioners who are not working left out of the count), were in a way influenced by the spread of corona virus.

Judging by the official data, Serbian economy has survived the first wave of corona pandemic, while the manufacturing industry has even registered some growth. In a statement issued recently, the Chamber of Commerce seemed to be convinced that the economic activities would be brought back to normality by mid-May. Out of 130,000 employees sent to forced leaves at the peak of the crisis, they said, 42,000 have already been back to their work places in more than 40 companies and the number will grow with a progressive...

The notorious South-Korean company producing spare parts for cars keeps on tirelessly violating Serbian labour and sanitary legislation. Although they are back to work after a short industrial action, workers are still dissatisfied.
In spite of the strict sanitary and hygienic rules issued by the City of Nis Crisis Headquarter, which stipulate a maximum of 50 workers per 5,000 square meters and a minimum distance of 2 meters among them, the employer is stubbornly massing people in a narrow and airless space.

After exhausting the quota of 45 days off, guaranteed by the domestic legislation, the management of FCA Serbia asked Serbian government for a new, 40-days break. The reason is obvious (epidemic of COVID-19) and the demand rather convincing, especially because the workers would be remunerated according to the law. Last year, the FCA already stopped production after getting government’s consent for additional 87 days off.

Although the economists mostly supported government crisis measures, some of them have already been severely criticized. Primarily, the decision to pay out of the budget a sum of 100 euros to all full of age citizens is under attack. So far, no one knows who precisely will be entitled to the donation, i. e. does it cover or not Serbian citizens abroad. The majority in the Fiscal Council is convinced that government did not give enough reasons for such payment.

Yesterday, Serbian Minister of Finance, Mali, announced the government’s readiness to activate the Development Fund and start assisting companies-victims of the COVID-19 crisis. Those having interest in that are invited to send their requests for help, while the government experts are preparing a legal framework for crediting (mostly) micro, small and medium entreprises.

One of the latest scandals in Serbia is the day-to-day toppling of workers’ rights in South Korean company JURA, which has its factory in the city of Leskovac. After trying many times to make contacts with the management and alarm the Labour Inspection, CATUS had to turn to the COVID-19 Crisis Headquarters. President Orbovic informed them that severe restrictions imposed on all territory of Serbia and almost entire population obviously had no impact...

PROGRAM OF ECONOMIC MEASURES OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA AIMED AT REDUCING NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF THE CORONA VIRUS AND SUPPORTING SERBIAN ECONOMY
On March 31, 2020 the Government of the Republic of Serbia published the Program of Measures Aimed at Reducing Negative Effects of the Corona Virus and Supporting Serbian Economy (hereinafter: Program), which was explained by the Finance Minister, Siniša Mali.