Dragana Lezaić and her colleague were employees of the Public Enterprise Post of Serbia, and after addressing fellow workers and the public at a protest on March 5, they received contract annexes ordering their transfer—and then were fired.
“I called on Post workers through social media to support us and gather on March 5 in front of the main Post Office in Takovska Street, where we simply read the report of the State Audit Institution, which issued an opinion and identified certain irregularities in the operations of the Public Enterprise Post of Serbia, mostly in procurement tenders. At that moment, we submitted several demands to the supervisory board, after which a wave of—yes, I can use the word—retaliation began toward my colleague and me. Already the next day, on one of the TV channels, the acting director of the Public Enterprise Post of Serbia, Zoran Anđelković, personally targeted me, demanding I be sanctioned because there were minors at the protest—my own children,” Dragana Lezaić told N1.
According to her, Anđelković also submitted a complaint to the Commissioner for Equality, which was dismissed because he did not provide the necessary documentation.
“After that, on March 7, my colleague and I supported the students’ call for a general strike. It started with taking our mail away, and our payslips now show our participation as a work stoppage, even though the system can easily verify that we were simply working with reduced capacity… The annexes followed that same month for both my colleague and me. The only difference was that hers was within our work unit, while mine transferred me to the Venac unit, to a post office 35 km from where I live. After that, both my colleague and I went on medical leave because the stress was enormous.”
Lezaić says that this marked the beginning of their fight.
“We first submitted explanations as to why we would not sign those annexes, because we considered them a form of retaliation for our involvement in the fight for workers’ rights and because of the March 5 protest. We also contacted the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality. In the meantime, my colleague was fired. I was returned to my position without explanation, which the Commissioner noted in her report—meaning that the employer’s stated reasons for the transfer immediately fell apart. After that, I resigned because I was denied my right to use my annual leave. It was simply my decision,” she explained.
She believes it is important that the Commissioner stated in the report that an employer cannot issue annexes in vague terms “due to work process needs,” but must state precise reasons.
“I think this is very important, because in public enterprises—not only in the Post—annexes are used as a tool to blackmail workers, especially those who are not politically suitable or who protest against unlawful practices. So, according to the Commissioner, the employer must be careful when drafting an annex; it is not enough to simply say ‘due to work process needs.’ The Commissioner also noted that, although the law allows a transfer up to 50 km, that alone is not a sufficient reason—it is only a limit that applies when other conditions are met, such as determining whether there are other employees closer to that workplace. In this case, the Post did not respond. So the Commissioner’s opinion is that provisions of certain articles of the Anti-Discrimination Law were violated, and she issued recommendations to our employer—our former employer—such as a written apology and instructions to take greater care in the future when drafting annexes, which will help me later in court, along with other matters.”
Dragana says that colleagues she called to the protest contacted her in large numbers, and that employers treated them with the same pattern.
“Now, many colleagues who are still employed at Post of Serbia are coming forward. They have also entered similar processes; some have already contacted the Commissioner. And essentially, the employers treated the workers who appeared at the protest the exact same way. Many received annexes and were transferred to other post offices extremely far from their homes. I think it is very important that this becomes known, because the fact that the law allows something does not give the employer the right to abuse it,” she concluded.
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Source: N1, Foto: Printscreen N1