Six months long strike in the mine ‘’Nemetali’’ in Vranjska Banja, once a successful company in Pcelinjski district, the only mine left in this region which has been exploiting zeolite, a mineral of the future, was recently ended.

Since the privatization of the company ‘’Nemetali’’ in October 2003, the workers and the small shareholders were the only ones who insisted on honoring the privatization contract, the only ones who warned that the production failed, that only 12 to 14 workers out of 87 were working. They have informed the Privatization Agency that the new owner Mr. Gojko Rajkovic secured the bank guarantee for the investment in such way that the bank mortgaged the company ‘’Nemetali’’. The Agency responded that the only relevant thing was to perform the investment. Not a penny, however, was invested in the company. Since the warnings were useless, the workers of ‘’Nemetali’’ went on a strike demanding the cancellation of the sale contract.

The Agency sent inspections to ‘’Nemetali’’ on numerous occasions and upon determining that Mr. Rajkovic was indeed violating the contractual obligations, forwarded new warning prior to the cancellation of the contract to the buyer, than postponed the deadlines for the unconditional fulfillment of the contract, and so forth. The local self management also backed up the workers and asked for the reaction of the Privatization Agency. 
In September this year, the District Court in Nis confirmed the temporary measure which brought Mr. Rajkovic back to the company. The workers of ‘’Nemetali’’ stopped the strike, and the Agency gave the new owner a new deadline, by the end of October ‘’ he was to ensure the terms for the production consolidation and adjust the rights of the employees.

As far as the adjustment of the rights of the employees, out of 75 workers which were on strike, over 40 was dismissed upon the end of the strike. According to the Union of the ‘’Nemetali’’, the company is closed down even now. The account is blocked, only one section of ‘’ Zlatokop’’ is working and employing a dozen men, two or three days a week. The end of October, moreover, will bring no answers regarding the purpose of the privatization in which successful companies are closing down.

If the only relevant thing is to replace one ideological fiction, namely ‘’ social property’’ with the ideology of the ‘’privatization’’, thus leaving the economy to collapse pursuant to a new ideological pattern, then Director of the Privatization Agency and Minister Bubalo should give a brief and clear explanation to the workers dismissed from ‘’Nemetali’ that they are to live out of the ideology, they have been long fed up with.

Ms Verica Barac,
President of the Council