SISAK IRONWORKS' WORKERS GO ON STRIKE

SISAK, July 5 (Hina) - Two thousand and three hundred (2,300) workers of the ironworks in Sisak (50 kilometres south-east of Zagreb) on Thursday went on strike demanding the payment of their full salaries and a permanent resolution for the status of this plant. All employees took part in the industrial action which started at 06.00 am Thursday. During the strike, organised by branches of two major Croatian union federations, the work discontinued in all the units of the ironworks, the chief commissioner of the SSSH federation, Mato Somic, said adding that the necessary operations in some parts of the ironworks were being maintained. The branch of the SSSH, which includes over 1,600 workers, refused the ironworks management's proposal that minimum wages be paid to employees for April, justifying its refusal with the fact that workers had earned full salaries in that month. Somic added that another reason for the industrial action was the fact that workers had not received salaries for two months, and they had no money to pay fares for their trips to work and they could not buy food and milk for their children. The workers have done their job in a fair manner and ask to be paid in fair manner, Somic said. Unionists also insist on a permanent solution for the status of this iron and steel plant and on guarantees that it will not be closed, he added. They ask the management and the Croatian government, which is the owner of the company, to provide workers with regular jobs so that they can earn salaries. They ask all the relevant and responsible factors to meet their commitments from a programme of privatisation of the ironworks, drawn up by the government in late March. The ironworks' resigned director-general, Marijan Balenovic, said he had tendered his resignation effective immediately to the council of creditors on 28 June, and he was carrying out the duties of the director-general until the appointment of his successor. Balenovic told Hina he had resigned given that his demands for the effective and full implementation of the privatisation programme had not been met. Under the programme, the government decided to secure the payment of salaries for March, April and May. Economy Ministry made the state support conditional on the payment of the minimum third wage, but the unions turned it down and staged the strike, and it was their right, Balenovic explained. The unions have announced the strike and there are no incidents during the industrial action. The management is continuing to negotiate with workers' representatives and union leaders as well as with the Economy Ministry and the government as to overcome the current situation, Balenovic said. (hina) sb ms