Deindustrijalizacija i radnički otpor - Pokret za slobodu

workers, we witnessed the union actually sabotaging the workers’ planto organize demonstrations in front of the Privatization Agency’s (PA)building in Belgrade. Then Pokret za slobodu called Zrenjanin and Belgradeworkers to help them – they organized demonstrations together,and that was the beginning of the Coordination Committee. TheZastava elektro protest was successful. The PA was forced to cancel theprivatization contract, but two months ago they sold Zastava elektroagain to the Yura Company from South Korea. Yura officials bannedunion organizing, and most of the old workers who were in last year’sprotests left the factory. They feel that the new sale of the companyis a kind of revenge by the government for the protest. Furthermore,the pro-Government press is now attacking them by saying that theyare lazy - that ”last year they were protesting for their jobs, but whenKorean company offers them jobs, they refuse to work!” On the otherhand, the protest of another group from the Coordination Committee,Trudbenik gradnja workers, was unsuccessful even though they provedthat their boss was severely breaking the privatization contract. The PAaccepted their evidence, and it released the official hundred-pages detailedreport on how the boss was breaking the law, but then they said,”OK, you guys were right, he is robbing both you and the state, it is outrageous,but we won’t break the contract“. Just like that. Why? Becausethis was a clear message for all the other workers what would happenif they rebel, and especially if they are doing it outside of the unionstructures. The cost of this for the workers was very high – more then200 Trudbenik workers were sacked by the boss because of the protest.At the beginning of the strike in August last year they knew what wouldhappen if they turn it into a protest against the privatization contract.But they took the risk, knowing that the canceling of the privatizationcontract was their only chance to get the jobs back. It was him-or-them,and they proved that the law is on their side, but now they are out, notthe boss. At the same time, Zastava elektro workers are punished fortheir last year’s successful protest as well. The Coordination Committeeis still far from being strong enough to help them, besides holdingmore protests, so at this point the situation doesn’t look good. However,we are expecting a new wave of protests this summer, and thatwould be the chance for our organization – Coordination Committee ofWorkers Protests in Serbia – to grow stronger.AG: So is this the new focus of your current activity? Are thereany efforts to document the experiences of last year and356