SSSBH: Is Elektroprivreda BiH shutting down ArcelorMittal Zenica and 12,000 jobs?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Trade Union of ArcelorMittal Zenica informed the Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of BiH that Elektroprivreda BiH has informed them that from March 1, 2022, they will no longer supply electricity!

"The reason for this unreasonable and unacceptable move is the refusal to accept the extortionate conditions imposed by this public company, which SSSBiH has been warning about since last year. The offered contract for reserve supply for the first two months of this year increased the price of electricity by more than 400%!", stated SSSBiH.

They added that the interruption of electricity supply to a factory that consumes more than half a million megawatts of electricity annually and has facilities such as the Coke Plant, Blast Furnace, and the Heating Plant which provides heating for Zenica, means its literal death.

"This would leave jobless not only the 3,200 workers employed at ArcelorMittal in Zenica, but also the 800 workers of ArcelorMittal in Prijedor, with unforeseeable consequences for the business operations of Željeznice Federacije FBiH and RS, as well as 600 companies that directly cooperate with ArcelorMittal. That is a total of 12,000 workers! If we multiply that by three or four family members, the real scale of this economic, industrial, and social devastation becomes clear. To make matters worse, according to our information, Elektroprivreda BiH has sold the electricity intended for ArcelorMittal to the foreign market. Although we are accustomed to the absurdities we witness every day in this country, it is hard to believe that the hunger for short-term extra profit is more important than the most important industrial chain in this country, in which workers earn their bread through hard labor. For who knows what time, their fates are being decided by suit-wearing individuals who earn ten times more and have never soiled their hands with work in their lives. It is true that electricity is a commodity like any other, but that electricity is produced from our resources. If we are to compare ourselves to the West, then we should also compare ourselves to the wages of their workers," the statement reads.

They demand that the Government of the Federation, the relevant Ministry, and especially Elektroprivreda BiH, "refrain from these insane intentions and, for the year 2022, respect the amended Law on Electricity, which limits the electricity price increase to a maximum of 20%, without usurious contracts and extortionate conditions for both ArcelorMittal and our other economic entities!"

"Ultimately, as always, the workers will bear the brunt of this! Otherwise, March 1 - Independence Day of this country, which was defended and protected by workers of the real and metal sectors, will be marked with protests in front of the Government of the Federation and Elektroprivreda BiH, protests the likes of which this country has not seen and which will certainly not stop until this problem is resolved," concluded SSSBiH.