"ZAGREPCANKA" WORKERS STAGE PROTEST IN FRONT OF GOVT BUILDING

ZAGREB, Nov 3 (Hina) - About 200 employees of the Croatian meat- processing industry "Zagrepcanka" gathered for a protest meeting in front of the Croatian Government building on Tuesday. The protesters are demanding from the Government and Croatian Privatisation Fund, which are the company's majority owners, to adopt a financial reorganisation programme for the company. Led by union representatives, the protesters set out towards St Mark's Square after their meeting on the company's grounds this morning, which was followed by a meeting with Zagreb Mayor Marina Matulovic Dropulic. The mayor expressed readiness for the City of Zagreb to meet the workers' request and take over the company but on the condition that the Government offer a reorganisation concept. The employees and union representatives arrived in front of the Government building in the city centre around noon, having previously broken through a police blockade, set up to prevent their arrival at the square. According to city regulations, protest meetings are prohibited in St. Mark's Square. "Give us back our jobs", "Butchers are humans too" - read some of the placards carried by the "Zagrepcanka" workers, dressed in their white working overalls. Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa's advisor on financial reorganisation, Nada Mamic, talked with workers' representatives and promised that "Zagrepcanka" would definitely undergo reorganisation. She announced that the Government would discuss the problem by November 16 at the latest. Privatisation Fund representatives will present a programme with concrete measures and deadlines at a meeting with the workers, scheduled earlier for today, Mamic said. The gathered protesters did not consider those assurances sufficient and remained waiting for the results of the meeting at the Privatisation Fund. On September 22, "Zagrepcanka" employees and a Government delegation agreed for the company's management to submit to the Government a financial reorganisation programme within a 60-day period. The programme was to be discussed by government working bodies. The programme was drawn up in the meantime but the Government has not discussed it yet. Workers suspect that the adoption of the programme is being intentionally stalled so that the company could go bankrupt and the City of Zagreb, which owns the land in Zagreb's Heinzlova Street where the company's headquarters are, could sell or lease the land dearly. It was also agreed at the September 22 meeting that the Government and Privatisation Fund would pay salaries to the workers although the company's plants are not working. (hina) jn rml /sp