The letter, sent to IFC president Paul Wolfowitz, says that in the two years since the company went into bankruptcy the IFC has refused all proposals for a bankruptcy plan, thus directly preventing the completion of bankruptcy proceedings.
"According to the latest information, at an upcoming auction the IFC will offer its mortgaged property for sale through one of your agents and then sell it in pieces," the letter reads.
The shipyard's fixed assets are an integral part of one technological whole which cannot be divided if production is to function normally and the sale of the basic means of production would be fatal for the company, the letter says.
The SMH will take all institutional and extra-institutional measures, including strike, protest and blockade, against such a move to preserve jobs and production, which has proven competitive on the world shipbuilding market, reads the letter.
The SMH and the SSSH said they would inform international trade union organisations and the European Federation of Metal Workers (IFM) of what kind of capital and organisations were entering the Croatian market and with what intentions.
The IFC and the German Development Bank, which are among the shipyard's major creditors, have initiated proceedings before the Rijeka Commercial Court to seize the portion of the company's assets over which they hold mortgage rights.
The bankruptcy procedure for the shipyard started in December 2003. The committee of creditors accepted the bankruptcy plan, under which the state, as the biggest creditor, was to become the majority owner of the shipyard. The way of implementing bankruptcy proceedings has not been agreed yet.