Workers of 'Feroelektro' again in front of the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo tomorrow

Workers of „Feroelektro“ d.d. Sarajevo have announced another protest gathering in front of the Cantonal Court building in Sarajevo for tomorrow, reports the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

The protest will be held from 10 AM to 12 PM. The workers of this once promising state-owned company will hand over an urgent request to the President of the Court for the swiftest possible resolution of the problems in „Feroelektro“.

The agony of the workers of „Feroelektro“ has lasted for more than ten years. They have not received their salaries for months, and they have neither health nor pension insurance. Although they work in buildings worth millions, the privatization of this company has brought the remaining 57 workers to the brink of poverty.

At the beginning of 2004, more than 60 percent of the shares of „Feroelektro“ were sold for about two million KM to the private company „Stanić-Invest“. The new majority owner committed to investing about 24 million KM in „Feroelektro“ within three years and hiring an additional 200 workers. However, the opposite happened. The number of workers was reduced from the then 167 to 57. Salaries were cut to the minimum, and contributions were not paid.

But even that was not enough for the Stanić family, so they began to strip the assets of Feroelektro.

Four years ago, the Court in Sarajevo ordered the termination of the contract with „Stanić-Invest“, but the annulment of the privatization was halted due to procedural errors.

The audit of the privatization, initiated by investigators four years ago, showed that only two percent of the items from the purchase agreement were implemented, and that the owners of „Stanić-Invest“ actually used the premises of „Feroelektro“ for their own purposes, writes NAP.