FIET Bosnia Project - delegation visited Belgrade for talks with trade unions of Serbia

FIET Commerce
FIET Central and Eastern Europe

24 June, 1998

The FIET solidarity project
in Bosnia and Herzegovina

FIET will continue discussions with trade unions in Serbia - project co-operation is being planned with Nezadvisnost

The trade union scene in Serbia is heavily influenced by the political situation in the country. With the exception of the independent trade union Nezadvisnost, the unions have not stood up actively in defense of human and trade union rights. They have either gone along with the Milosevic government or chosen to remain silent. It is apparent that most unions in Serbia are not prepared to play an active role to try to hinder the regime from making another Bosnia out of Kosovo. Also during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nezadvisnost was the only union organisation that openly went against the policies of Milosevic.

The Yugoslav parliament building in Belgrade becomes a more and more quiet place as Montenegro continues to distance itself from the present Serbian leadership. The unions in Montenegro are already living an independent life.

During the first FIET visit to Serbia, the head of department for FIET Commerce and FIET Central and Eastern Europe, Jan Furstenborg, and the director of the FIET projects in former Yugoslavia Alex Rüdig met with Nezadvisnost and with the Independent Bank Workers' Union. They were joined in Belgrade by Dimitris Tsoukalas, vice president of FIET's Greek finance sector affiliate OTOE and Aristoteles Lakkas, president of OTOE's training institute.

In the friendly discussions with Milan Alembijevic, president of the the Independent Bank Workers Trade Union and the union's executive committee, the FIET delegation underlined the responsibility of the international trade union community and all national trade unions to stand up for the basic values of peace, democracy, solidarity and human rights. On behalf of the delegation, Jan Furstenborg expressed deep concern over the developments in Kosovo and affirmed FIET's strong commitment to support the action taken by the international community to restore and secure peace in the region. He hoped that the Serbian bank workers union would reconsider its earlier decisions not to get involved in public affairs and show a more active support for the universal values of the global trade union movement. In conclusion, it was agreed to keep up the contacts that had been established and to work towards a future integration of the bank trade union into FIET's activities.

The FIET delegation agreed to start preparing for a project co-operation with the independent trade union Nezadvisnost. Here, Alex Rüdig, Dimitris Tsoukalas and Jan Furstenborg meet with Bronislaw Canak (right), president of Nezadvisnost.

Meeting with Bronislaw Canak, the president of Nezadvisnost, the FIET delegation agreed to start working on a joint project for Serbia. This would help Nezadvisnost to develop its activities particularly in the commerce sector, where the union is already established. The discussions will now be followed up by the FIET project structures in the region.

During the visit to Belgrade, the FIET representatives Jan Furstenborg and Alex Rüdig also discussed the situation in former Yugoslavia with the ambassador of Finland, Mr Ilpo Manninen.