Twenty-seven workers at the “Elid” factory in Donji Dušnik near [Gadžin Han]were given dismissal notices after going on strike because their employer had failed to pay six salaries. The now-former employees of the electrical products manufacturing company told the Beta news agency that since the beginning of the year they had received only 30,000 dinars, leaving them with no other option but to stop working.
The owner and director of the factory, Slaviša Milić, denied the workers’ claims and told Beta that he had sold an apartment in Novi Sad to pay debts to suppliers and wages to workers.
“Elid” worker Zvonko Petković said that they accepted the dismissal notices but would not accept the reasons stated in them, as the documents said they had been fired for “violating work discipline,” meaning they were not entitled to financial compensation from the National Employment Service or severance pay.
Petković stressed that they would continue their fight through legal channels for what they are entitled to under the law, including payment of unpaid wages, severance pay, and dismissal documents that would allow them to register with the employment service and receive benefits. He said that 15 of the 27 workers had spent their entire working lives at “Elid” and were only one year away from retirement.
“For the past three years, our salaries were delayed by two, three or four months, but from the beginning of the year until June 15, we worked for 30,000 dinars. The owner kept postponing payment, saying that the company was operating at a loss, while at the same time we were working normally and the products were being delivered to customers,” Petković explained.
In June, they had “had enough” and stopped production
He said that in June they had “had enough” and halted production for two days.
“On the second day of the strike, Milić came to the factory with two lawyers and his proposal for paying the outstanding salaries. He signed and stamped that proposal in front of all of us,” Petković said.
The proposal stipulated, he added, that by July 23, the workers would receive two salaries: the remaining part of their January salary, their February salary and half of their March salary.
Petković said that the remaining two and a half salaries — the second half of the March salary, as well as the April and May salaries — were supposed to be paid by July 20.
“That proposal, which we are keeping as evidence for court, also contained provisions stating that the owner would continuously procure raw materials, that salaries would be paid regularly in the future, and that production would be halted if salary payments were delayed again,” Petković said.
The owner failed to honor the proposal he had made himself
According to him, the workers returned to work and continued working normally, but the owner failed to honor the proposal he had drawn up himself and did not pay the salaries he had promised. As a result, they went on strike again in July.
“Then he started threatening us with dismissal, telling us that there was a law under which people work without being paid and citing examples of [Belgrade pharmacies] where employees allegedly had not received salaries for a year,” Petković said.
According to him, the employer offered them a document stating that they would have to work for three months without pay and would only then receive their outstanding wages, but they naturally refused to sign it.
The workers, he said, hired a lawyer, filed a lawsuit with the Commercial Court and initiated compulsory collection proceedings for unpaid wages through enforcement officers.
Petković added that during all 11 years that Milić had owned “Elid,” the workers had received only the minimum wage, with only a few mechanics responsible for maintaining the production machinery earning around 10,000 dinars more.
Milić: I sold my apartment in Novi Sad to pay their salaries
The owner and director of “Elid,” Slaviša Milić, told the Beta news agency that the workers’ claims that six salaries had not been paid were untrue and that in April he had paid their January, February, March and half of their April salaries using money from the sale of an apartment in Novi Sad.
“Our market is limited, and production is expensive, so we do not have enough money earned to cover all operating costs. I had no choice but to sell ‘Elid’s’ assets and my personal assets in order to continue operating,” Milić said.
He said he had tried to sell the factory kindergarten for just 200 euros per square meter, but could not find a buyer for it, nor for the apartments in a residential building that “Elid” had previously built in Dušnik, so he was forced to sell his apartment in Novi Sad.
He also intends, he said, to sell his apartment in Bijeljina in order to cover operating costs because he wants “Elid” to continue operating.
“Unfortunately, the workers handed their payroll records over to enforcement officers, who could hardly wait for this because they charge 23,400 dinars for collecting each salary. The collection of two salaries for 27 workers, plus enforcement costs, is a lot of money for ‘Elid,’” Milić said.
According to him, during the month-long period in which the workers were on strike, he went to the production facility almost every day, telling them to be patient a little longer, explaining the company’s entire financial situation in detail and asking them to continue working.
“Since they repeatedly refused to sign the document I offered them, I had no other choice and had to give them dismissal notices. They are announcing that they will sue me over this, and I will certainly defend myself. I will not simply sit back and watch them sue me,” Milić stressed.
The “Elid” factory was founded in 1963 and during the 1970s and 1980s was one of the most successful companies in southern Serbia, employing around 450 people.
After its first privatization in 2004, when the company was bought by well-known Niš businessman Jovica Stefanović Nini, the company began to decline, with production and the number of employees falling.
The company “Elektroplamen,” owned by Milić, bought “Elid” and its 14 production facilities 11 years ago for 54.9 million dinars.
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Source: N1, Foto: Facebook ELID