Metalworkers’ Union Concerned About the Future of Đuro Đaković

The Metalworkers’ Union of Croatia – Industrial Union (SMH-IS) within the Đuro Đaković Group today expressed “deep dissatisfaction” with the negative business results of Đaković in the first half of this year, during which the Group’s consolidated loss amounted to 29.5 million kuna, for which they hold the Management and Supervisory Board appointed by the Government responsible.

Noting that the losses are primarily a result of nearly halved total revenues at the level of the Đ. Đaković Group, reduced by 45 percent compared to the first half of 2012, the Union emphasizes in its statement that this is a devastating consequence of insufficient utilization of production capacities and, accordingly, unsuccessful management of the Đ.Đ Group.

In this union, they believe that the current Management and Supervisory Board of the Holding, appointed by the Government as representatives of the largest shareholder, bear the main responsibility for the continuation of negative business operations.

They emphasize that the primary goal of SMH-IS in Đuro Đaković remains to preserve existing jobs and the level of social rights for workers contracted in the signed collective agreement, and the main prerequisite for this is full employment of production capacities, which is still not in sight.

They add that despite numerous efforts and promises from the Holding’s Management, there are still no significant export business breakthroughs, and in the realization of projects in the domestic market, the expected logistical contribution from the Government in activating investments, particularly in the modernization of HŽ and HEP and for the needs of the Ministry of Defense, has been lacking.

The Union is therefore concerned about the future of Đuro Đaković, whose workers are in daily contact with union representatives, “expressing understandable fears that Đ.Đ. is being intentionally weakened to destroy the little processing industry that remains in Slavonia, while employment capacities are in other parts of Croatia.”

They remind that the Metalworkers’ Union of Croatia in Đ.Đ. has publicly warned the Management, Supervisory Board, and the Government several times in the past year and a half, fearing that further accumulation of losses and insufficient employment could soon seriously jeopardize the business stability of the Đ. Đaković Group, still a bearer of the development of the metal processing industry in Slavonia, the survival of more than a thousand jobs, and the rights of employees.

However, there has been no expected response, so if the situation does not change soon, the Metalworkers’ Union emphasizes that they will only have preparations for union actions in agreement with the workers.

They also recall the statement of Prime Minister Zoran Milanović about the Government’s assumption of responsibility for the appointment of management and supervisory boards of companies in which the state is a majority or significant shareholder. “Therefore, the Government cannot exempt itself from responsibility for returning Đuro Đaković among the losers,” they believe in the Metalworkers’ Union of Croatia – Industrial Union within the Đuro Đaković Group.