Unions Displeased with RSD40,000 Dinar Minimum Salary, General Strike Not Excluded

BETAPHOTO/DRAGAN GOJIC

The trade unions are not satisfied with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic's proposal for the minimum monthly salary to be RSD40,000 next year, and they do not exclude a possibility of a general strike.

The secretary of the Council of the Alliance of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia, Zoran Mihajlovic, told BETA on July 14 that the tolerance threshold had been crossed. "Around 50 percent of the workforce receives a salary that is a little below or above the median, which is around 47,000 dinars. The minimum salary at this moment should not be less than 50,000 dinars. It seems that the endurance threshold has been crossed and that a general protest is not excluded," Mihajlovic stated.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in the evening of July 13 that he would try to "push," in agreement with the Social and Economic Council, for the minimum salary to be 40,000 dinars next year, which is 340 to 350 euros. He said the minimum salary would be increased significantly, by 14-15 percent compared with this year, but not dramatically, so as not to jeopardize the investors, especially German, Japanese and Chinese ones.

Mihajlovic said that calculations had shown that the "trade unions' basket," which is a real basked of necessities, unlike the statistical one, was worth to 53,000 dinars. "The people are hungry, the school year will soon begin and heating fuels for the winter have to be bought. The minimum salary of 40,000 dinars is below our expectations," Mihajlovic said.