Headquarters for the Defense of the Refinery: Closure is a Strategic Task for the Hungarians

The announcement by the new CEO of INA, Sandor Fasimon, that the Croatian oil company will retain production at one location through transformation and use another for logistics, caused outrage among workers in Sisak on Thursday, while refinery unions and the Headquarters for the Defense of the Oil Refinery and the Preservation of Jobs in Sisak say that such announcements were to be expected, as they assess that the closure of the oil refinery in Sisak is a strategic task for the Hungarians.

>>>Fasimon announced the closure of the plant in the Sisak refinery, Ćorić surprised

– Restructuring within MOL is not happening without reason. Everything indicates that the Hungarians continue the policy of hostile takeover of INA, which we have been warning about for a long time. We have arguments that indicate that the data on the operations of our refinery is distorted and serves only for the purpose of its closure. And the supposedly independent Deloitte analysis, which the Hungarians refer to, was made based on data that INA provided and ordered. I think it is now time for someone in the Government or other relevant institutions to meet with us, which we have been requesting for a long time, so that we can present them with the real data, said Predrag Sekulić, president of the Nova Solidarnost union and spokesperson for the Headquarters for the Defense of the Refinery.

>>>Aldott: There is no market for two oil refineries in Croatia

As Sekulić adds, they are particularly disturbed by Sandor Fasimon’s statement that the Sisak Refinery allegedly does not make money. And with the shutdown of the FCC (catalytic cracking) unit that provides raw material for fuel blending, as he says, INA’s production has come to a collapse.

Even the announcement that the surplus workers will be fairly accommodated cannot calm the union members. Previously, it was mentioned that there would be a surplus of about forty workers, who would be reassigned to other jobs, and now that number is already climbing into the hundreds.

>>>At the meeting of the unions and the management of INA, the list of workers who will be declared surplus was denied

The Headquarters announces that due to the new, confusing statements from the future CEO, they will soon convene a meeting of the Headquarters. Sandor’s statement about the logistics center in Sisak, which implies a significantly larger layoff of workers than previously announced, comes at a time when the Croatian government is still seeking a model for the repurchase of shares from the Hungarians.

Fasimon is expected to replace the current CEO Zoltan Aldott by the end of June.