SDP and GIKIL Trade Union Draft Recovery Plan for the Company

TUZLA, (Patria) - Leaders of the SDP Cantonal Organization met with a delegation of the Trade Union Organization of the GIKIL company from Lukavac on Friday, after which conclusions were adopted on how to help the company, which is on the verge of closure.

Nearly 700 GIKIL employees protested at the end of last month in front of the FBiH Government building in Sarajevo.

The Federal Inspectorate for Environment and Tourism ordered the gradual closure of the Lukavac factory and its reduction to a technological minimum due to excessive environmental pollution.

The workers do not want the Government to close the factory, but rather for the owner to implement ecological projects that would ensure both the company's operation and a clean environment.

The General Director of Global Ispat Koksna Industrija Lukavac (GIKIL), Debasish Ganguly, was arrested at the end of August and is suspected of criminal offenses related to environmental incidents that caused air, soil, and water pollution. 

During the meeting of the trade union and the SDP, which has a parliamentary majority in the Tuzla Canton with its coalition partners, it was concluded that the business is currently stable with very optimistic forecasts and that the co-owners of the company have never taken the need for investment to eliminate the identified shortcomings in the technological process more seriously. The GIKIL trade union will request that the company's management structures (Management and Supervisory Board) commit in writing and with necessary decisions that within 6 months they will systematically eliminate and remediate all shortcomings identified by the orders of the Federal Administration for Inspection Affairs (FUZIP).

The trade union will also request that the Government of the Federation of BiH, based on the Company's written guarantee to FUZIP, obtain a postponement of the execution of the Decision on the suspension of GIKIL's operations. That the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of the Federation of BiH expedite the procedure for issuing a new environmental permit, or propose a temporary solution for issuing an environmental permit. It was also concluded that FUZIP should conduct intensive supervision over the implementation and realization of the identified shortcomings.