ITUC GLOBAL RIGHTS INDEX

Serbia
Serbia has been placed in category 4 this year from category 2 last year. There
has been a dramatic increase in the number of violations recorded in the country.
This could be related to the fact that workers’ capacity to report cases of violations
has improved. This year we found that workers are unable to effectively access
judicial remedies when their rights are violated. High court and legal fees imposed
by the Act on Court Fees and the Law on the Bar tariff, in combination with the
lack of possibility for a worker to be represented by a representative other than a
lawyer, such as a trade union representative, makes it very difficult for individuals
to raise grievances. Court proceedings concerning labour issues can take up to 8
years. Trade unions have called for the establishment of specialised labour courts
in order to improve access to justice with no avail so far. Collective bargaining negotiations
are often protracted without a reason at the sectoral or company level,
leading in practice to the impossibility to conclude an agreement. In addition, trade
unions in Serbia are not sufficiently protected against interference in their activities.
For example, in the public enterprise Skijalista Srbije, founded and owned by
the State, the employer continuously tried to declare null the last trade union elections
and to appoint representatives of the management as elected trade union
representatives. This interference dates from February 2015.
Montenegro
Montenegro’s bankruptcy laws have been interpreted to mean that labour law is
suspended in companies under receivership, and giving the Bankruptcy Trustee
jurisdiction to make decisions that are properly questions for the Labour Ministry.
Workers are paid the minimum wage instead of the salary agreed upon in valid
collective agreements and are not allowed to exercise their trade union rights.
The issue has become one of compelling importance during the last five years,
considering that 2,363 Montenegrin enterprises have started bankruptcy proceedings.
The ILO Committee on Freedom of Association, in response to a complaint
from the ITUC concerning the dismissal of a trade union leader in an aluminum
company under receivership urged the government “to ensure that bankruptcy
proceedings do not lead to a situation where allegations of anti-union dismissal
cannot be addressed”. The company has yet to reinstate the union leader. When
workers employed at the bankrupt Bauxite Mines Company in Niksic staged a
protest in order to demand the payment of their due wages, police interfered violently.
Three protestors were sentenced to three-month imprisonment and two to
184-hour community service. The country’s rating has gone from 1 to 3 this year.
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