13. 12. 2004

UNION DEMANDS SUSPENSION OF MEDIA DIRECTOR

PIROT, December 13, 2004 – The Independent Union of the Public Information Company Sloboda, in the south Serbian town of Pirot, has demanded that the municipal authorities dismiss company director Svetlana Matic-Metodijev because of the degradation of the company. The Independent Union, whose members include employees of weekly Sloboda and RTV Pirot, are also demanding the dismissal of members of the IPC Sloboda Managing Board who are activists of certain political parties. The situation erupted ten days ago when the director of the IPC terminated the employment contracts of the former director of the development sector, the recently-employed marketing director and the current president of the Democratic Party’s municipal committee, Momcilo Djurdjic, and gave a final warning to Radio Pirot journalists Nenad Paunovic. Paunovic, who is the president of the union, demanded that the council, which operates the company, and its president rescind the decision on budget financing of two private media outlets in Pirot, review salaries in the company, which he says are the lowest salaries in the entire public sector, and introduce the signing of individual collective contracts. A statement from the union expresses concern about current events in Sloboda. Union members describe the company as being in a very difficult situation, particularly in the technical, program and personnel sectors and warn that this is further imperilled by the coming privatisation process. IPC Sloboda director Svetlana Matic-Metodijev claims that Momcilo Djurdjic’s employment contract was terminated because of his failure to meet his responsibilities. “In this case the dismissal is regarded as an act of protection of the company and its employees’ interests from the improper behaviour of any employee,” she said. Matic-Metodijev also claimed that Paunovic had asked her to terminate the contract in front of fifty other employees. “Furthermore he threatened that all employees would go on strike. He insulted me and my colleagues, members of the Management Board. As director of this company I will continue to protect the interests of employees,” she added. Momcilo Djurdjic told Belgrade daily Danas that the issue was one of settling political scores and revenge by his political opponents for his fifteen years of work implementing democratic values in the town. The president of the Pirot Municipality received a delegation from the Independent Union of IPC Sloboda. He described the meeting as the beginning of discussions, emphasising that it was obvious that IPC Sloboda was experiencing problems, but said that the aim of the talks was to develop ideas which would improve the company’s operations as well as its international relations. A total of 73 full time staff and several part time associates are employed by the three media outlets within IPC Sloboda.