On the State of the Labor Struggle in Serbia

On the State of the Labor Struggle in Serbia
Conversation with representatives of USS SLOGA

Speakers: Aleksandar Todić, Zlatko Bekić
Moderators: Vladimir Simović, Marko Miletić

November 1, 2011 

The position of workers in Serbia is constantly collapsing. In today’s time – a time of crisis and austerity measures – when the social cuts implemented by governments all over the world are first of all putting the working people under attack, opening up the issue of labor organization is a necessity. At the same time, the concepts and practices of solidarity and equality, as well as the idea of ​​public good, which are completely marginalized under the dominance of neoliberalism, it seems that, today more than ever, it is necessary to bring them back into the public discourse and articulate their potential.

At the talks we will organize with representatives of the labor movement we will try to locate the points of resistance to the current situation, both institutional and non-institutional. These points are largely scattered today, so the focus of the discussion will be on the potential of local and international connection of workers’ struggles, as well as the possibilities of connecting workers with other social groups and movements.

We will hold the first open discussion on these topics with representatives of the Serbian Trade Union Association SLOGA.

The “United Trade Unions of Serbia “SLOGA” is a trade union union independent of the state and state institutions, employers and political parties. “SLOGA” is an organization whose main goal is to defend and protect the interests of the membership and all employees. The organization was founded at the beginning of 2008 by a group of trade union activists dissatisfied with the work of the existing trade unions. “We wish to restore the confidence of the workers of Serbia in the trade union movement that is being invented in Serbia. We want everyone who has the need to truly fight to join us. for exercising their rights. We believe that the union should not exist so that the union officials can live comfortably on the workers’ hump, but that the employees should decide their own fate.”