Unions Demand Urgent Meeting Regarding Shipyards

The leadership of the Metalworkers’ Union of Croatia – Industrial Union has requested a meeting at the Ministry of Economy no later than November 15 to discuss the delays in the privatization and restructuring of the shipyards – Brodosplit, Brodotrogir, and Rijeka’s 3. Maj.

If this meeting does not take place within the requested timeframe, they announced that they would organize gatherings of workers from these shipyards and decide on further actions.
– We demand that at this meeting in the Ministry of Economy, all unions operating in the shipyards be accurately informed about the changes that the restructuring programs have undergone and that we be clearly told in which direction the negotiations are heading, if they are not yet concluded, regarding the shares that interested buyers are to acquire. We are concerned about the issue of ownership due to resolving the problems of employees and excess workers in these shipyards – stated Vedran Dragičević, president of SMH-IS, at a press conference in Split after the meeting of the Croatian Shipbuilding Committee operating within this union.

According to Dragičević, the issue of new owners of the shipyards needs to be resolved by the end of this year.
– We receive those who invest in shipyards with a very cautious stance regarding their further actions and expect them not to enter the shipyards in a way that creates animosity and conflict – he said.
If the meeting at the Ministry of Economy does not occur by November 15, then SMH-ISH, he announced, will organize gatherings of workers in Brodosplit, Brodotrogir, and Rijeka’s 3. Maj and decide on further actions.

The chief representative of SMH-IS in Rijeka’s 3. Maj, Jure Šoljić, warned that if a meeting is not organized at the Ministry of Economy by November 15 and the demands of shipbuilding unionists are not met, then the ‘third-majers’ in Rijeka will take to the streets and ‘if necessary, even pull out machines through the city.’ Šoljić emphasized that the metalworkers’ union of Rijeka’s 3. Maj demands that the workers of that shipyard also be allowed ‘participation in the purchase of shares as has been enabled for Uljanik workers,’ and insist that 3. Maj remains ‘a technological unit for the construction of ship hulls at the location where 3. Maj is situated.’

In response to a journalist’s question about how he comments on the morning statement of Finance Minister Slavko Linić on Croatian Radio that bankruptcies would be cheaper than the privatization of shipyards, Dragičević said that he finds this statement ‘somewhat surprising,’ and that as far as he knows, the government has never considered bankruptcies of shipyards at any point.
– I expect that the government that would dare to throw the shipyards into bankruptcy will fall – emphasized Dragičević, adding that bankruptcy would mean the liquidation of the shipyards, and that Minister Linić should call it by its proper name.
– At this moment, Brodosplit has 120 million euros in contracted work, so let me see who will throw this shipyard into bankruptcy which would mean liquidation – Dragičević pointed out.

Commenting on a journalist’s inquiry regarding Minister Linić’s statement that the government has allocated 9.2 billion kuna from the budget for shipyards this year, and will allocate another three billion kuna by the end of the year, Dragičević noted that Linić did not foresee certain losses and therefore did not include them in the budget. It is not the fault of the shipyards, but the fault of those who did not accelerate the restructuring process and the resolution of ownership, asserted Dragičević.
In response to the question of what will happen if the Samobor DIV withdraws from the purchase of Brodosplit, he said that a serious government should have a ‘backup option’ not only for the Split shipyard but for all three shipyards that are planned to be restructured.