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YUGOSLAVIA and repeated mass dismissals on ethnic grounds. Serbian ?special measures? have generally included suspension of workers councils and elimination, or at lean severe restriction, of the right of workers to engage in normal trade union activities. ITUK officials and activities have frequently been subject to harassment by the authorities. For example, in September two ITUK officials were sentenced to 60 days in prison, in part for trade union activities. It was estimated in October that come 50.000 Kosovo Albanian families were without a wage earner and that total dismissals of Albanian workers exceeded 75,000. The right to strike Is recognized and was widely exercised throughout Yugoslavia. Some 95 percent of strikes in Serbia were said to be legally organized, that is. in compliance with the Serbian law which requires a 30—day notification and limits strike activities to the affected enterprise. In June some 45.000 metalworkers in Bosnia—Herzegovina walked of f their jobs to demand payment of guaranteed wages and tax relief for ailing industries. They were later joined in solidarity strikes by other metalworkers (130,000) and some 150,000 in construction, transportation, and woodworking industries, as well as by 35,000 teachers. Their protest ended following government promises of salary support and economic changes. The CITUY. which abandoned the Moscow—dominated World Federation of Trade Unions decades ago, has observer status in the World Confederation of Labor and has applied for membership in the European Trade Union Confederation. The new republic federations, particularly in Siovenia and Croatia, state they no longer wish to have federal organizations represent them interOational ly. b.The Right to Organize and Dargain Collectively Western—style collective bargaining does not yet exist in Yugoslavia. A 1969 law on labor relations introduced the concept of "collective agreements" to be negotiated between the unions and the semiofficial Chambers of Economy. but unions found it difficult to identify the authorities with management responsibility for negotiating contracts. Questions persist as -to the enforcement of such contracts or agreements, property ownership, and the independence of management. Wages are set generally at the factory or enterprise level by workers councils representing management and labor. Each )ob is graded by ?points? and salaries arranged hierarchically. Protection for unions is provided by both federal and republic laws, which, however, have not caught up with the recent changes. Yugoslavia is now in transition from its?old system of official unions? to a mixed one in which new independent groups of workers exist alongside the old ?reformed? organizations. Ethnically based dismissals and persecution of union activists remain problems. There are no export processing zones. c.Prohibition of Forced ox Compulsory Labor The Federal Constitution prohibits forced labor, and this prohibition appears to be respected. 61 |
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