Zijin Workers Block Company Building Entrance with Help from Bor Residents

A part of the workers of the company Serbia Zijin Copper, supported by a large group of other residents of Bor, blocked the entrance to the company building yesterday for half an hour, demanding from the employer to raise the salaries by 14.3%, in line with the inflation in Serbia.

At the peaceful protest, with police presence, the workers also demanded for the Labor Code, which they dispute, to be put out of use and for the Collective Contract, which was signed when the Chinese partner became the majority owner of the former RTB Bor, to be implemented.

The protest in front of the entrance to the company followed a gathering in front of the General Directorate of Zijin Copper and a protest walk of thousands of people through the center of Bor.

– With the new, unilateral and illegally adopted Labor Code, they have humiliated the workers and the trade unions and expressed disrespect toward the Ministry of Mining and Energy, as a signee and guarantor of the strategic partnership agreement – said Caslav Gavric, the president of the Branch Trade Union of Mining and Energy “Nezavisnost”.

The president of the Autonomous Trade Union of Metalworkers of Serbia, Zoran Markovic, threatened to have the company blocked for 24 hours if the demands of the trade unions were not met.

The leaders of the representative trade unions pointed out that they would demand for other ministries, in addition to the Ministry of Mining and Energy, to get involved in the resolving of the dispute with Zijin.

– The position of RTB miners has never been worse than now. We expected a lot from the Chinese company: better conditions for the workers, better salaries which would follow the level of the production and the realized profit, because a strategic partner had been sought with that intention – Gavric said.

The Zijin management earlier offered a 5% salary raise and a linear increase of RSD 5,000, but the representatives of the trade unions rejected the proposition as unacceptable.

Zijin notes that the average salary in the company is RSD 110,000 and that it is far higher than the state average.

Serbia Zijin Copper doo Bor

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Serbia Zijin Copper

Ministry of Mining and Energy

Branch Trade Union of Mining and Energy Nezavisnost

Autonomous Trade Union of Metalworkers of Serbia

RTB Bor

Caslav Gavric

Zoran Markovic

salaries in Zijin

salary raise

inflation

Zijin protest

Labor Code

Collective Contract