Unis Tools: Every morning they watch the workers of Novalić's TMR go to work, while they remain without salaries

More than 30 workers of the state-owned company Unis Tools in Vogosca will send a request to the Government of the Federation of BiH and the Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Nermin Dzindic, asking the Government, as the owner of Unis Tools, to finally resolve the fate of the employees, who have been on strike since April this year because they have no salaries or health insurance, writes the BiH news agency Patria.

The president of the strike committee of Unis Tools workers, Dzevad Beslija, told the Patria agency that the workers no longer care whether the Government will restart production at Unis Tools, or find another way to take care of the workers, but it is evident that the employees of this once promising company, destroyed by wartime events and whose destruction was completed by post-war privatization, are at the end of their strength.

Beslija: Workers are exhausted

Unis Tools is a company formed by the re-registration of Unis, a BiH giant that employed more than 7,000 workers before the aggression against BiH in 1992, and was one of the leading companies in the world in the fields of automotive industry, chemical industry, machine building, defense industry, bearing production, tools, bicycles...

The company was partially destroyed by the aggression against BiH, which lasted until 1995, and further "buried" by post-war privatization, which in most cases was detrimental to the former BiH giants and workers.

Uncertain fate

Beslija explains that the fates of the remaining 30-odd Unis Tools workers are different today; some need only one or two years until retirement, while others need more. Some workers have their service contributions paid up to 2015, while others do not. However, they all share the same thing - they have no salaries, no health insurance, and their future is uncertain.

Unis Tools operated relatively well until 2007, with workers receiving regular salaries and health and pension insurance. The company was managed by director Ervedin Cengic until then. However, after his departure, things began to go very wrong.

- Hajrudin Skulj started recording the first losses, and his successors Jakub Kubur and Zijad Tvrtkovic continued them - says Beslija.

The claims of Unis Tools workers, solely based on salaries and warm meals, exceed 7 million KM as of today.

On Monday, November 9, the workers announce a gathering of the remaining Unis Tools workers, where they will make a plan on how to continue the fight for their rights. If the newly appointed minister Dzindic does not give firm guarantees that the Government will take care of the remaining Unis Tools employees, they might even go on a hunger strike. In any case, they say, they will not give up!

Joint ventures

The chairman of the Supervisory Board of Unis Tools for a time was the current federal Prime Minister Fadil Novalic.
At that time, the current federal Minister of Energy, Mining and Industry Nermin Dzindic was at the head of the company Pretis.

As these are companies originating from the same matrix, located almost next to each other, and Novalic and Dzindic are good friends, Unis Tools and Pretis also had joint ventures. The workers admit that they even received several salaries at that time.

In the meantime, Novalic and Dzindic have moved to high positions in the Government of the Federation, one as Prime Minister and the other as a minister in his Government. Pretis no longer uses the services of Unis Tools today; their machines are shut down! However, Novalic and Dzindic's joint company "Termo Metal Resist" (TMR), which deals with mediation in the sale of machinery, industrial equipment, ships, and aircraft, is doing better than ever.

It is located in the former Unis halls, almost next to the Unis Tools premises, so the Unis Tools workers, with downcast eyes, watch every morning as the TMR workers go to their workplaces, while there is no work for them in the country!

Novalic's and Dzindic's company TMR is located in an attractive industrial zone in Vogosca