BELJE EMPLOYEES TO CONTINUE PROTESTING IN ZAGREB

OSIJEK, March 29 (Hina) - Employees of the "Belje" agricultural company will continue their protest in Zagreb, after having staged a protest on a local road in the eastern Croatian region of Baranja because of a five-month delay in salaries. Around noon Wednesday Belje workers ceased blocking a Bilje road which they had done for several hours a day since Monday. Regional commissioner of the Agriculture and Food Industry Employees' Union, Slavko Kotromanovic, announced between 700 and 1,000 Belje employees would be leaving for Zagreb on April 5, where they will stage a protest in front of the Government and Privatisation Fund buildings. The Croatian Privatisation Fund is Belje's owner. Unless their requests are met by April 10, the company's employees will initiate a general strike. The workers are requesting an agreement on the payment of the remaining arrears, rehabilitation and restructuring of the company, a regular payment of salaries and ensuring funds for Belje's normal functioning. Tuesday's statements uttered by Belje Supervisory Board chairman Zeljko Svedl about the protest being illegal and dismissals in case it continued are hypocritical, Kotromanovic said. "If the Supervisory Board will cite the Labour Law, it should know that in line with the same law, the employer is obliged to pay salaries to the employees within 30 days of a completed job," he stressed. (hina) lml jn