SLATINA TOBACCO FACTORY'S WORKERS BLOCK PODRAVSKA ROAD

SLATINA, July 23 (Hina) - Workers of the tobacco factory "Duhan" in Slatina (140 kilometres east of Zagreb), and citizens of that Slavonian town, on Friday morning blocked the Podravska road in protest at a failure of representatives of the company, the Government, the Croatian Privatisation Fund, and the Rovinj Tobacco Factory (TDR) to settle the problem of the "Duhan" factory. Protesters set up blocks on the road between 08.00 and 09.30 am Friday. During that period, police directed traffic over nearby local roads. The factory had requested financial rehabilitation, to which end the Government adopted a decision last year, and started negotiations on linking with "British American Tobacco" (BAT), which has already purchased the Zadar Tobacco Factory. In the meantime, Zagrebacka bank sold "Duhan"'s debt of DM11 million to the Virovitica-based company 'Virzinija', making the Rovinj Tobacco Factory (TDR) the actual owner of 'Duhan'. Since the TDR had announced the centralisation of tobacco processing in Virovitica, 'Duhan' employees started talks with the multinational tobacco factory BAT, fearing their factory might be closed down and they laid off. The committee opposing the closure of 'Duhan', a company which has some 300 workers and 800 contract farmers, on Friday took control over the factory. "The evil has forced us to close the road which we used to defend during the war as an artery of Croatia," said Dragan Tomljanovic, the head of the association of Homeland War Veterans' branch in Slatina and a town councillor. The protesters forwarded a request to the Government to find a permanent solution to problems of the Slatina-based Duhan within the coming ten days, taking into consideration the interests of workers, tobacco growers and the entire area of Slatina. Workers and contract farmers of "Duhan" were supported by Slatina's authorities and all political parties in the town. (hina) ms