Although the management of Adriadiesel, led by Nenad Končar, managed to avoid bankruptcy last autumn by reaching a pre-bankruptcy settlement proposed by the Croatian Metalworkers’ Union, workers are still owed unpaid back wages for June and July 2014.
With the pre-bankruptcy settlement, the established debt of 30.5 million kuna included a portion of the debt to the state of about 5.2 million kuna, which has been reprogrammed for eight years of repayment. Other creditors will have to settle for a write-off of 70 percent of their claims, while the remaining 30 percent is to be paid within three years.
According to Dragutin Vuljanić, the regional commissioner of SMH-IS, workers have not received their full salary for December 2015, and they are on minimum wage, except for those who were on field jobs.
− Orders for diesel-electric generators for the Russian and Belarusian nuclear programs have been long awaited, and Croatian shipyards have filled their order books, but unfortunately, very little of that has come into Adriadiesel’s order book. Therefore, we appeal to both Nenad and Danko Končar to advocate not only in their Brodotrogir but especially in Uljanik, which has a 28.15 percent ownership stake, to help Adriadiesel secure necessary employment capacity through orders for auxiliary marine engines. This would mean an end to last year’s practice of renting out labor to shipyards. If the state encouraged a restructuring model for Uljanik to take a third ownership stake in Adriadiesel, it would also be logical to provide it with sufficient orders for the ships it builds, Vuljanić believes.
