Zastava plant
Workers vs. privatization
Thousands of workers at the Zastava plant in Kragujevac,
Yugoslavia, brought traffic to a halt July 19 when they
rallied to protest plans to privatize their factory, the
biggest in Yugoslavia. Tens of thousands face losing their
jobs.
Sometimes all the currents of globalism converge on one
factory, one town, one country. In 1999, when NATO bombed
Yugoslavia for refusing to give up socialism and knuckle
under to imperialism's military domination, the huge Zastava
factory was one NATO target. The auto plant produced the Yugo
automobile, weapons, and airplanes for the national airline,
JAT.
When NATO attacked Zastava, the workers in the city of
Kragujevac went to their factory and protected it with their
bodies. Many were injured in the NATO bombing.
They considered it their factory--not just a place of work
but their property.
Under the Socialist Party-led Milosevic government, by law
workers were allocated 60 percent of the shares in the
factory. The state controlled the other 40 percent.
When the new government of Vojislav Kostunica and Zoran
Djinjic took power after the October 2000 coup, the first
thing it did was privatize state property. Seventy percent of
the Zastava shares were to be sold to private investors.
Of course, the U.S. government and its representatives
knew Yugoslavs would resent the privatization schemes because
they would cost jobs. The AFL-CIO and the National Endowment
for Democracy helped create Nezavisnost, a labor union
friendly to an International Monetary Fund "restructuring
plan."
More than one labor union represents the Zastava workers.
But most of the workers were in the left and socialist Trade
Union Confederation of Serbia.
"After the DOS-NATO coup, Djindjic promised that no worker
would be fired; DOS cheated workers and workers now feel
abused," said Darko Nadic, writing from Yugoslavia. DOS
refers to Democratic Opposition of Serbia, the public
relations name created for the right wing.
Downsizing the Zastava factory will hit the left union
members hardest. The DOS/NATO government is selling off "the
country's most valuable state-owned assets," according to
Privatization Minister Alexsandar Vlahovic.
With the cash from these sales, the government will
compensate the "pre-1945" owners of these properties--which
would include Nazi collaborators. OPAH, a pro-privatization
Yugoslav investment consultant firm, acknowledges that 27
percent of the Yugoslav work force is unemployed because of
the bombing of Yugoslavia's industry and the privatization
program.
For Zastava, globalization means NATO bombs, the IMF,
privatization, downsizing, unemployment, cheap labor, union
busting and anti-worker governments. Despite attempts by
company unions to sell out the workers, Zastava now displays
one more hallmark of globalization: resistance.
--Heather
Cottin
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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