ZAGREB, Sept 12 (Hina) - Following Saturday's protest of employees with Komercijalna Banka on the premises of the bank in Frankopanska Street in Zagreb during which guards of the "Tigar Cikatic" security agency scuffled with
demonstrators, a compromise was reached on Saturday evening so that over the weekend two policemen, two Tigar Cikatic security guards and ten bank workers should keep a vigil in the offices. On Monday, the case of Komercijalna Banka should be discussed in the Justice Ministry, the creditors' council and the bankruptcy council, according to the agreement reached by unionists, the bank's workers and the President of the Commercial Court, Vesna Buljan, who came in Komercijalna Banka on Saturday afternoon to mediate in the dispute. Recent developments in connection with Komercijalna Banka culminated in Tigar Cikatic security guards' arrival in t
ZAGREB, Sept 12 (Hina) - Following Saturday's protest of employees
with Komercijalna Banka on the premises of the bank in Frankopanska
Street in Zagreb during which guards of the "Tigar Cikatic"
security agency scuffled with demonstrators, a compromise was
reached on Saturday evening so that over the weekend two policemen,
two Tigar Cikatic security guards and ten bank workers should keep a
vigil in the offices.
On Monday, the case of Komercijalna Banka should be discussed in the
Justice Ministry, the creditors' council and the bankruptcy
council, according to the agreement reached by unionists, the
bank's workers and the President of the Commercial Court, Vesna
Buljan, who came in Komercijalna Banka on Saturday afternoon to
mediate in the dispute.
Recent developments in connection with Komercijalna Banka
culminated in Tigar Cikatic security guards' arrival in the bank's
offices at about 06.00 am Saturday. Upon their arrival, the guards
changed the lock at the entrance and closed the entry through the
courtyard not letting workers come into a bank and join other
employees that have been holding a sit-in in the offices for a
month.
The guards have been hired by the bank's trustee in bankruptcy, Pero
Hrkac, whom the bank's employees have not allowed to enter the
bank's offices in fear of his attempt to remove certain documents
which can allegedly discredit the former management of
Komercijalna and some politicians of the ruling party blaming them
for malfeasance in the bank's operations.
At about 09.00 am Saturday, around 80 workers gathered in front of
the bank's offices in order to enter the building, but the guards
thwarted them. At about 09.30 am police arrived on the spot and then
employees and guards tried to come into the building behind the
police and got into a fight. Two female workers of the bank were
lightly hurt in the scuffle.
Tigar guards also used force against the Zagreb commissioner of the
Association of Independent Trade Unions (SSSH), Mario Ivekovic,
and the head of the Zagreb branch of the Liberal Party (LS), Mladen
Vilfan. But there were no visible consequences of that act.
"The union and Komercijalna Banka employees will on Monday demand
the revocation of a decision on the hiring of Tigar guards as well as
negotiations on the reorganisation of the bank," announced
Ivekovic. In addition, "employees are expecting that Pero Hrkac
will be finally replaced following today's incidents, and that a
new trustee in bankruptcy will be chosen. They will also ask that
the judge in the bankruptcy proceedings, Vesna Malenica, be
relieved of her duty," Ivekovic said last night.
The unionists' leader claimed that the current trustee in
bankruptcy, Pero Hrkac, wanted to remove discrediting documents
which, according to Ivekovic, accuse the former bank management and
some state officials.
The Commercial Court's President, Vesna Buljan, said she would
insist on convening a session of th Bankruptcy Council on Monday as
it can only decide on possible withdrawal of Tigar guards. "I have
come to diffuse the situation, but I have no jurisdiction to
terminate the contract which Hrkac has signed with Cikatic," Buljan
added.
(hina) ms