Dalmacijavina Workers Demand 64 Million Kuna Through Protest, Call for Prime Minister’s Help

Dalmacijavina workers in Split warned on Wednesday through a protest march that they have not yet received 64 million kuna in claims recognized in the bankruptcy proceedings against the company.

After gathering at the Split Ferry Port in front of the building that housed the company’s headquarters, the workers expressed their dissatisfaction through a protest march along the Riva and through the city center to the headquarters of the Split-Dalmatia County and the County Court.

– At the opening of the bankruptcy proceedings in May 2012, claims of 75 million kuna were recognized for 552 Dalmacijavina workers. The Agency for the Protection of Workers’ Claims in Bankruptcy has paid 11 million kuna, and the remaining 64 million kuna has not yet been paid to the workers, said Danica Stipović from the Independent Union of Dalmacijavina to reporters.

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She stated that the workers’ protest is yet another call to representatives of state institutions, especially Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, to assist these workers.

– We demand that the Prime Minister meet with us and we ask him to ensure the payment of the workers’ claims recognized in bankruptcy because all the properties of Dalmacijavina that were sold are properties created by the workers through their labor, said Stipović.

‘Legally Designed Regulations’

According to her, the state took everything from them through conversion and turned it into state property, and then, as she put it, through “legally designed regulations” led Dalmacijavina to bankruptcy.

– Dalmacijavina has suffered great damage, the workers restored everything by taking out loans, and in the end, bankruptcy occurred in which the state, also through its bodies – the Committee and the Assembly of Creditors, made key decisions, said Stipović.

She added that the state could have corrected the mistakes and made the right decisions. The bankruptcy administrator (Natalija Mladineo) decided that more than 60 million kuna would go to the Dalmacijavina current account, which is blocked by the state, and we believe that the state should relinquish those funds because not all funds from the sold properties of Dalmacijavina can go to the state budget, said Stipović.

A hearing has been announced for Friday, February 23, for, as Stipović said, the distribution of about 70 million kuna lying in the deposit account of the Commercial Court, collected from buyers of Dalmacijavina’s properties.

– The bankruptcy judge told us that this hearing will be held under police protection, she added.

Change of the Maritime Domain Law

In response to journalists’ questions, Stipović said that she does not expect anything from that hearing on Friday because it is “not easy to explain to the workers that they are the first higher payment order, but that they have received nothing in the bankruptcy proceedings.” She explained that according to the law, the obligations of the bankruptcy estate and the costs incurred in bankruptcy are settled first, and these are “again funds that go to the state.”

– We proposed to the state to change the Maritime Domain Law under which it expropriated us from the buildings in the Ferry Port in Split where our headquarters was located, and the state also adopted the Agricultural Land Law under which our properties in Drniš were taken and nationalized. We believe that the state can now adopt some legal or social framework to help the workers of Dalmacijavina, emphasized Stipović.

She added that the state has collected all the properties of Dalmacijavina into the budget. She also stated that during the bankruptcy of the company, which is still ongoing, the state collected about 30 million kuna because the company was still operating with suppliers during that period.

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Dalmacijavino was sold in February 2015 to the largest shareholder of the company Viro grupa, Marinko Zadri, for 70.5 million kuna. The starting price was 281 million kuna, but no one bought the company at ten auctions, so its price decreased at each subsequent auction.

Danica Stipović told reporters that the new owner of Dalmacijavina is not the subject of the current discussion about the company because he bought the company at auction and can do whatever he wants.

Regional Commissioner of PPDIV (Union of Employees in Agriculture, Food, and Tobacco Industry and Water Management of Croatia) Ivica Blažević said that this union sent a letter to Prime Minister Plenković proposing to organize a joint meeting to address the problem of Dalmacijavina workers, but has not yet received a response.

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He reported that he recently met with Finance Minister Zdravko Marić.

– I told the finance minister that it does not even have to fully pay the claims of Dalmacijavina workers and that satisfying the workers with the payment of 50 percent of their claims would be enough. Politics created the problem of Dalmacijavina, and politics can solve that problem in five minutes, said Blažević.

PPDIV sent a letter to the Minister of the Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure Oleg Butković proposing that the investments of workers and management in the company before its conversion and privatization be taken into account.

– We know that a new law on maritime domain and ports is being prepared, and if all investments in Dalmacijavina before conversion and privatization were included in that law, then there would be a chance for the workers to be fully compensated, emphasized Blažević, speaking about the letter sent to Minister Butković.