Trade unions "demand meeting with PM"

Trade unions "demand meeting with PM"

A meeting with Vučić and Vulin was requested on Wednesday by the leaders of the Alliance of Independent Unions of Serbia (SSSS) and the United Branch Trade Unions (UGS) Independence, Ljubisav Orbović and Branislav Čanak.

"We have seen 9 or 10 versions of that law. We ask Vučić and Vulin to come to a meeting at the union and to bring the right version, so we could harmonize it first at the meeting and then at a session of the Social-Economic Council (SES)," said Čanak.

Orbović warned that if an agreement on the labor bill, specifically on the matter of extended applicability of collective bargaining, is not reached, the two trade unions will leave SES.

If we cannot make sure that the procedures are followed, if we abandon the social dialogue, there is no point for us to be in the Social-Economic Council, Orbović stressed.

"Unions know"

Aleksandar Vulin said on Wednesday that trade unions' representatives were well aware which labor bill version was ready to be enacted, as the proposal could be found on the website of the ministry and also trade unions’ websites.

Asked by reporters whether he would agree to a request of union representatives to meet with them and arrange that the meeting is attended by Vučić, Vulin said the meeting was sure to be held but he could not speak on behalf of Vučić.

Answering a question by the opposition Democratic Party (DS), which has sought an answer to why there is no public debate on Labor Law, Vulin said that the procedure was transparent and the bill had already been in public discussion for five months now, and employers and unions had been giving their remarks on it.

“The bill will be passed very soon because it needs to be passed quickly,” Vulin said, adding that he would be happy if he could “draw up a new law together with trade unions and employers all over again, but that is impossible, as there is no time.”