Deindustrijalizacija i radnički otpor - Pokret za slobodu

Chronology of fight for JugoremedijaAlthough without jobs for two years, the workers of «Jugoremedija»refused to quit. Their militancy and creative directactions made them a symbol of resistance to neoliberal capitalismin Serbia.The Recuperated Factory Movement Spreads to Eastern Europe:Jugoremedija Pharmaceutical Factory Workers Face EvictionSerbian pharmaceutical factory «Jugoremedija», from the town ofZrenjanin, was privatized in 2000, in such a way that 58% of the shareswere given to the workers, and the state took 42%. In 2002, the statesold it’s shares to Jovica Stefanovic, an infamous local capitalist, whomade his fortune smuggling cigarettes, and who was wanted by Interpolat the time he bought the shares of «Jugoremedija». As all the otherbuyers in Serbian privatization, Stefanovic was not even investigated inmoney laundering, because the Serbian Government’s position at thattime was, and still is, that it’s better to have dirty money in privatization,than to let workers manage the company, because that will “bringus back to the dark days of self-management”.Allow us to give you a little context.The first attack on Yugoslav self-management happened before thebreak up of socialist Yugoslavia. The first organized attempt to dismantlethe system of self-management in Serbia dates back to the timesof Slobodan Milosevic. But the real full-blown process of privatizationand curtailment of workers rights happen after Milosevic was sent tothe Hague Tribunal. In this context in transitional Serbia of the 21stcentury, with the transition to capitalism and parliamentary democracy,everything became allowed in the fight against what the new neoliberalgovernment saw as the “ideological monster of self management”– even if it means the government and the court break laws.Breaking all the rules, the state allowed the new co-owner of Jugoremedija,Stefanovic to become the dominant owner of the factory.Through various illegal maneuvers the ownership structure was changed:Stefanovic was given 68% of the shares and the workers portionwas reduced to 32%.326