KUTINA, Jan 18 (Hina) - A workers' committee in charge of preventing the stoppage of production at Kutina's Petrokemija mineral fertiliser factory discontinued their protest late on Thursday night after a brief meeting with the
factory's management upon their return from Zagreb, where they held talks with Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic. Granic told reporters after the meeting he had suggested that representatives from Petrokemija join in negotiations on this year's contract regulating power supply and technical and financial issues. A representative of the workers' committee, Zeljko Klaus, expressed 'moderate optimism'. The most important result of the talks is that Petrokemija will resume production and that the workers will not have to pay for the stoppage, he said. After the meeting in Kutina, the committee issued a statement saying the government had obliged itself to include in the state power supply a
KUTINA, Jan 18 (Hina) - A workers' committee in charge of preventing
the stoppage of production at Kutina's Petrokemija mineral
fertiliser factory discontinued their protest late on Thursday
night after a brief meeting with the factory's management upon
their return from Zagreb, where they held talks with Deputy Prime
Minister Goran Granic.
Granic told reporters after the meeting he had suggested that
representatives from Petrokemija join in negotiations on this
year's contract regulating power supply and technical and
financial issues.
A representative of the workers' committee, Zeljko Klaus,
expressed 'moderate optimism'. The most important result of the
talks is that Petrokemija will resume production and that the
workers will not have to pay for the stoppage, he said.
After the meeting in Kutina, the committee issued a statement
saying the government had obliged itself to include in the state
power supply and demand balance more than 600 million cubic metres
of gas Petrokemija needs for production. Government
representatives also agreed that Petrokemija would not have to
cover the losses caused by the stoppage on its own. The factory will
receive compensation for the losses. Guarantees have been provided
that the workers' salaries would not be brought into question, the
committee said.
The workers agreed that production should resume in early February
at the latest or sooner if possible.
The factory's management has promised the workers and
representatives of the Slavonija and Baranja Farmers' Association
that the factory would be able to produce and deliver sufficient
amounts of mineral fertilisers on condition gas supply
normalises.
The workers' committee said it would continue closely following all
future activities of the government and the factory's management.
Around 2,000 Petrokemija workers staged a protest rally yesterday
morning over the Croatian oil company INA's failure to deliver gas
needed for the production of mineral fertilisers, which caused a
40-day stoppage of production. Around noon the protesters tried to
block the Zagreb-Lipovac highway but were intercepted by police on
a road leading from Kutina to the highway.
The workers requested the government to normalise gas supply,
adjust the annual balance of power supply and demand, and cover the
factory's losses amounting to more than 200 million kuna.
(hina) rml