Ex Judge: Electronic Media Watchdog Council Has No Right To Strike

Zoran Ivosevic (BETAPHOTO/MILOS MISKOV/DS)

A former Supreme Court judge and an emeritus professor, Zoran Ivosevic, has said that members of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Media (REM) Council cannot go on strike because as government servants they have no right to suspend work.

In an editorial published in the Dec. 13 issue of Belgrade daily Danas, Ivosevic said that the right to suspend work was only granted to employees to exert organized pressure on their employer, that is, the government, while REM Council members were appointed and relieved of duty by the Serbian parliament and thereby did not have the status of employee.

Ivosevic also said that only those discharging expert and administrative jobs in REM were granted the right to strike as only they enjoyed the employee status.  

In a Dec. 9 statement explaining the reasons for suspending work, the REM Council said that it “has been for years exposed to pressure by certain opposition parties, independent media outlets and some civil society organizations.”