The Metalworkers’ Union of May 3 Warns of Difficult Conditions at the Shipyard

The branch of the Metalworkers’ Union of Croatia – Industrial Union (SMH-IS) at the Shipbuilding Industry (BI) May 3, in today’s open letter addressed to Prime Minister Zoran Milanović, warns of the situation at the shipyard, calling for the acceleration of privatization and the contracting of new jobs.

The union reminds that government representatives claimed that the privatization contract would be signed by May 3, and that the Prime Minister stated during the signing of the contract for the sale of Brodotrogir that ‘we have managed to preserve shipbuilding in Pula, Rijeka, Split, and Trogir.’

In May 3, the agony of uncertainty continues, time is very short, July 1, by which the last obligation from Croatia’s accession to the European Union must be fulfilled, is very close, while the situation at the shipyard is worsening every day, the union states in the letter in which it wishes to inform the Prime Minister about the current state in May 3 on behalf of 2,300 employees and their families.

It warns that there is less and less work, that there is not a single newly contracted ship in the order book, that the chances of the privatization and restructuring process succeeding are diminishing, and that by the end of 2014, May 3 must show guidelines for sustainable production.

We, the workers of May 3, wonder how to contract new jobs when the fate of the shipyard and who the new owner is is still unknown, states the union’s open letter, emphasizing that, from their perspective, everything has stalled on verbal promises.

Highlighting that they do not shy away from reality and are aware that the changes will largely fall on the backs of ordinary workers, the union asks the Prime Minister, ‘Is July 1 being awaited as a wall over which Croatia will jump without May 3?’

The Prime Minister has not convinced them otherwise, ‘at least not by actions,’ they say in the union, calling on the Prime Minister to accelerate the privatization process and the contracting of new ships ‘while there is still time for any dialogue.’

– Otherwise, we workers will not stop at these words. We believe we deserve a chance, if for no other reason, then because there is no alternative to shipbuilding for our region – states the open letter from the branch of the Metalworkers’ Union at the Shipbuilding Industry May 3.