Deindustrijalizacija i radnički otpor - Pokret za slobodu

crucified in the national media as ‘Stalinists,’ ‘enemies of transition,’and so on…After the state sold its 42% share, the Jugoremedija workers startedorganizing themselves and mobilizing the support of ‘external’ shareholders.During the company’s March 2003 Shareholders’ Assembly,Stefanović proposed his investment plan which sought investments inraw materials not crucial upgrades. He misled the assembled shareholdersby arguing that this was part of his contract with the state. Therepresentative of the workers and small shareholders at the assemblywas Zdravko Deurić, who rejected Stefanović’s proposal. In retaliation,Stefanović suspended Deurić as well as union leader Vladimir Pecikoza.As the situation deteriorated, Jugoremedija workers went onstrike in December 2003, demanding that Stefanović stop mobbing(intimidating) union activists and those in the shareholders’ association.Stefanović agreed to their demands on January 6, but after thestrike ended he hired private security guards who only subsequentlyintensified the intimidation tactics against workers. In the meantime,Stefanović produced a forgery of the Shareholder Assembly’s originaldecision on investment and presented himself at Zrenjanin’s EconomicCourt as Jugoremedija’s ‘64%’ majority-owner.After accidentally learning about this (Deurić was in Court attendingto some other business when he saw that the ownership structurewas being changed), the workers reacted with another strike in earlyMarch 2004. After they learnt of the actual content of the contract betweenthe state and Stefanović – i.e. stipulating the need to invest inupgrades for GMP certification – the workers turned their strike into aprotest. They now demanded that the state terminate its contract withStefanović, because he didn't fulfill his obligations under its terms.On March 15, Serbia’s Ministry of Economy concluded thatStefanović hadn’t fulfilled his investment obligations. A group of about100 Jugoremedija workers converged on Belgrade and blocked thePrivatization Agency’s premises for a day, demanding that the state filelegal proceedings to terminate its contract with Stefanović. The PA didso the next day. On 3 April 2004 Stefanović’s management left the factory.Following negotiations organized at the beginning of August 2004by then Minister of Economy Predrag Bubalo, the workers agreed to letStefanović’s management return to the factory and to work with themuntil the courts could determine which side was the majority owner.322