Workers in front of HDZ protest Čović, some tear up party membership cards

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - A group of Aluminij workers came to the company premises this morning, after the former giant from Herzegovina was left without electricity last night.

'People are now asking to go in front of the HDZ building, we will enable them to do so, meaning we are going too,' said Pero Bebek, president of the Aluminij Workers' Union Assembly, after a meeting of unionists at the Mostar company, bljesak.info reports, as carried by Dnevni list.

'It was agreed that the unions will choose four people to talk to politicians, whom I have no idea about. We will come for duty, people will be assigned, because there is no shift work, so that the same people don't always come, we will divide ourselves into groups, until the bankruptcy administrator arrives,' said worker Jozo Šarić, who has been working at Aluminij since 1984.

Romeo Biokšić, representing the Independent Union of Aluminij Employees, said that bankruptcy proceedings are being opened. 'Shock, sadness, disbelief. We are currently on paid annual leave, bankruptcy proceedings are being opened. After that, we will receive termination notices for employment contracts, then we will go to the employment office, we don't know what and how next. The factory has been shut down. We hoped that this would not happen, unfortunately, it did. A bad policy that is being pursued in these areas has shown its true face,' said Biokšić.

When asked how he commented on the silence of all government structures, especially Croatian representatives at all levels, Biokšić said: 'I have no words for those Croatian politicians who sit in the FBiH Government and other institutions. I would only thank the Mayor of Mostar and the Prime Minister of HNK who visited us, and you media. For the rest, I have no words.'

Miro Zelenika, who has been employed at Aluminij since 1982, said he would not thank Ljubo Bešlić and Nevenko Herceg.

'What they said yesterday down at Ortiješ was pathetic because it's not about switching on and off here. Here, once a switch is tripped, it's over. They talked to the Government and don't know what that process means,' said Zelenika, bljesak.info reports, as carried by Dnevni list.

'It is not in their interest, because they all live off the workers. Not just us, but generally. Tomorrow it's the post office's turn, then the electric power company, I don't know the order. Tomorrow it's the post office's turn, then the electric power company, I don't know the order. They don't care about the people at all,' said Zelenika.

He rejected the politicians' accusations that the workers were also to blame for the situation.

'Last night I heard that Čović, I can't call him a gentleman, made a statement somewhere from Posavina, where he already was, that he felt sorry for the workers and that he couldn't do anything,' said Zelenika.

Zelenika explained that in the financial sector, there used to be two or three people, while today it is packed, because so many people are employed that they are pushing to find a place to sit.

Workers are in front of the HDZ building, members of the MUP of HNK are also present, and bljesak.info reports that explosions of pyrotechnic devices have been heard.

Mostar media report that some workers have torn up their HDZ membership cards in protest.