Workers locked ZOI '84 building, will return the key to Kozadra tomorrow morning

Workers of ZOI '84 locked the building of this state-owned company in Branilaca Sarajeva Street in Sarajevo, after no representatives of the Sarajevo Canton Government responded to their demands during today's protest, reports the reporter of the BH News Agency Patria.

Alija Hodžić, president of the ZOI '84 trade union, told Patria that the workers will take the company's key to the acting Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton, Muhamed Kozadra, between 8 and 9 AM tomorrow, because the company is owned by the Canton.

The workers announced today that if the company's Assembly, in cooperation with the KS Government, does not appoint an acting director by 4 PM, adopt a recovery program for the company, and settle their outstanding wages, the workers will block all premises and buildings owned by the company. As no one addressed them by 4 PM, the workers locked the company's administrative building, preventing operations for companies renting space in ZOI '84 premises as well, reports Patria's reporter.
Only the KS Minister of Economy, Emir Hrenovica, briefly addressed the demonstrators, but he could not promise concrete solutions himself.

More than 100 workers of the company ZOI '84 continued today's protest by gathering in front of the company's building in Branilaca Sarajeva Street, after protesting in front of the Eternal Flame in the center of Sarajevo, i.e., in front of the building housing the Ministry of Finance of Sarajevo Canton and acting Prime Minister Muhamed Kozadra.

The workers first protested in front of the KS Government building, but as no one addressed them, they went "under the window" of Kozadra. The workers demanded that Kozadra address them immediately. Strong police forces were present, but Kozadra did not appear, although the demonstrators had received information that the acting prime minister was in the building.
They are demanding the payment of ten outstanding salaries and contributions for social and health insurance.

A real drama has been unfolding in front of the building housing the ZOI '84 company in Branilaca Sarajeva Street in Sarajevo since this morning. Namely, the president of the ZOI '84 trade union, Alija Hodžić, threatened to set the building on fire and block the main Sarajevo thoroughfare.

- If no one needs the company, if no one cares about the workers, then we will set it on fire - Hodžić told Patria's reporter, claiming he had brought a canister of gasoline.

- These people have nowhere else to go. Ten salaries have not been paid to them. The agony must stop immediately - Hodžić stated.

This state-owned company has a loss of over 12 million marks, and the existence of about 190 employees and their families is threatened. No representative of the authorities, the Sarajevo Canton government, has addressed them.

The problems of ZOI '84, a public enterprise managing assets worth hundreds of millions of marks, inherited from the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, have been ongoing for years. However, Sarajevo governments, instead of solving them, have only further endangered the business and increased the losses, reports Patria.