Expert: Overall Poor State of Labor Rights in Serbia

Workers (BETAPHOTO/SASA DJORDJEVIC/EV)

According to the index of honoring of collective rights of workers, Serbia is predominantly in the company of African and Asian countries, along with Romania, North Macedonia and Hungary, the coordinator of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Serbia, Jovan Protic, told the portal of the United Trade Unions “Independence” on Jan. 17.

“The state in the field of labor rights in Serbia is poor overall, and one of the reasons is the slow bringing of new laws and inconsistencies in the implementation of existing ones, in which both the state and the trade unions have their role and share of responsibility. There are many examples of failure to adjust to the changing of laws and to new local and global challenges,” Protic stated.

He recollected that the International Trade Union Confederation divided all countries into five groups according to the index of honoring of collective rights, and that Serbia was in the penultimate – fourth group, among countries with systemic violations of labor rights, both by private employers and in the public sector.

“Therefore, the decades-old hopes of labor in our country for a better status have not been fulfilled – quite the contrary. Thus, we are still predominantly in the company of African and Asian states. However, the surrounding countries: Romania, North Macedonia, Hungary and Greece are also there,” Protic said.