Anti-worker trade union TOKG Five cases of betrayal by union

In modern day Croatia industries such as garment industry, shoe or leather industries are marked by hard labour for minimum wages, coupled with non-existent workers’ rights and constant pressures from management and senior managements. One of the actors – Trade union in textile, garment, leather, rubber of Croatia (TOKG) is making sure that things get even worse for the workers. In this text we will describe five cases in which TOKG depicted itself as a management’s right-hand, a frequent ally in destruction of companies, increasing exploitation and passivization and destroying fighting spirit of the workers.

“Naprijed” factory

Garment factory Naprijed (Forward) was in Radnička 42 in Zagreb and it employed about one thousand workers. Once successful company has gone through a standard downward trajectory – the downfall was induced by privatization in 1992 when it was sold to Zvonimir Gucić, who was also responsible for the downfall of many other companies that he owned, for example, Vesna and Sportska obuća Novska. The fact that the destruction of companies production capacities was planned becomes clear if we only take a look at what is located at this location now: business center Green Gold, which is more profitable for Privredna banka (Commercial Bank) that stood behind the factory at that time than was a garment company. The moves of this tycoon are also witnesses of planned destruction of the company: one of the first moves of Gucić in company Naprijed was forming new company Nik with no property. Then a first swindle was unleashed: workers were transferred to new company without knowing this. According to records, workers have had eight days stoppage, but they actually have not stopped working due to the fact that they knew nothing about this transfer. And the guilty party for this is Trade union in textile, garment, leather, rubber of Croatia (TOKG) and its then president Josip Zidanić, as TOKG was the only trade union in the company until the bankruptcy, and constantly majority union.

After transferring workers, the company continued to function normally for the next ten years, but then – in the beginning of the 2000 – problems started and a notion for bankruptcy was filed. At that time its bankruptcy manager Miroslav Borš and company management advised workers to sign agreed breakup of the contract and sign new contracts with the mother company. The reason was that bankrupted company had no property so the workers would not be able to get their money, but what it really meant was that by signing agreed breakup they were also giving up their rights as employees – effectively also losing right for severance pay. Workers tried to advice themselves at TOKG where they were coldly advised to sign the deal because it was, in the opinion of TOKG, “good for the workers”, while it clearly was not.

At roughly the same time, New Union (Novi sindikat) started functioning in the company (then: Union Zagrepčanka). They noticed that work on Saturdays is not being paid under the explanation that during the week the production level was not satisfied and that workers have to finish their work on Saturdays in order to get paid. In conversation with the bankruptcy manager Union Zagrepčanka emphasised this, but the manager and TOKG said that this was the usual practice, which is not surprising as TOKG had never taken any steps against such a procedure.

Workers began organising with the help of Union Zagrepčanka, then took over the factory and won a deal – they carved out the annulment of the contractual breakup and got severance pay for ten years.

This practice was stopped after Union Zagrepčanka got a confirmation of its claims after labour inspection confirmed that the practice was indeed illegal. At around the same time Union Zagrepčanka started accepting new members and warned them not to sing the contractual breakup, but at that time already around 90 percent of all the workers have signed it. Still, workers began organising with the help of Union Zagrepčanka, then took over the factory and won a deal – they carved out the annulment of the contractual breakup and got severance pay for ten years they spent in daughter company. If TOKG had reacted in time, the workers would have got severance pay for the whole duration of their work (some had up to thirty years working in the company). Zagrepčanka had no means to correct this damage, but they have shown with their actions in the factory that trade union could be fighting workers’ organisation that can legally change the law when it becomes an obstacle.

To say it in short: in this case, underneath the nose of TOKG passed an illegal transfer of workers from one factory to another, unpaid Saturday work and when the company was in trouble, they advised workers to act in such a way that was obviously contrary to the interest of those same workers.

Factory “Kamensko”

Established in 1949, Kamensko was a textile giant of the socialist Jugoslavia that employed several thousand of workers and was successful exporter of goods. Transforming “Kamensko” in shareholder company during the ’90s the doors were opened to land grabbing profiteers and parasites that are eventually going to destroy “Kamensko”. Considering that paychecks were downgraded to bare minimum wage, the workers were forced to sell their shares at extremely cheap prices and they were bought primarily by tycoons. One of them was Miroslav Kutle that had loyalty of some of the people inside the management, especially of then head manager Antun Crlenjak.

At the end of the first decade of this century the situation for workers become desperate: the pension and health insurance were not paid for them and then in 2010 the paychecks also stopped beside the fact that production was regular as orders came in daily. When this happened, workers planned to strike in order to force management to pay them, but TOKG, together with its president Željko Šengin, persuaded them not to strike, claiming that the strike would be illegal. Nonetheless, workers organised a strike some time after that on the square of Franjo Tuđman, announcing a hunger strike, after which they were called by Krešimir Sever, president of Independent Trade Unions of Croatia (Nezavisni hrvatski sindikati, NHS). But he also only warned them that they were breaking the law and eventually called them to quit striking and get back to work. Hunger strike started at 20 august and until that year ended, 426 workers were fired without their pays and severance pay. In march 2016 the land of Kamensko was sold to company Radnik d.d., whose director and biggest shareholder was Marko Habijanec, member and generous donor of HDZ (Croatian Democratic union, the biggest right wing party in Croatia).

For many years TOKG was allowing management not to pay workers, not to pay health and pension insurance and when even the paychecks were stopped, and workers started to fight for their rights, TOKG was not only not trying to organise them to strike, but he also tried to actively put them out of that. At the end, part of workers started even a hunger strike, but with no results. There’s what anti-workers union led to: at workers self inflicting them.

Shoe factory INKOP

At the beginning of summer 2016 workers of INKOP company rebelled after their paychecks were not paid for months. The workers themselves were in extremely difficult position as most of them were not a part of trade union, nor they even knew that there is a trade union in the company, so they were unable to negotiate in single voice and threaten to strike even in the case of those missing paychecks.

Radnički portal came on the first day of the protests and talked to protesters in order to find out their problems and demands. Our first advice was to insist on trade union based organising because trade union is the only legal mean that workers have to legally defend their rights. TOKG was active in the company, so part of the workers contacted the representative of that trade union in order to enroll into the organisation.

Already here TOKG showcased its destructive potential towards workers. At first their representative was not answering his phone, and when he finally showed himself he advised workers to start mediation process with management without striking and without any alternative strategy.

The company was in so bad condition at that moment and its financial obligations towards workers were such that even for the workers the only solution was bankruptcy. However, here were at least two possibilities: either workers are going to get partially paid from the bankruptcy mass either, as in Ivanec, they could demand their claims to be transformed into shares. For the latter, a workers and trade union organisation was needed. And it is exactly this that was missing.

Trade union representative stood on the side of the management without knowledge and permission of the workers and did a number of anti-workers actions.

Instead of opting for the bankruptcy, trade union representative Savo Šmitran stood on the side of the management without knowledge and permission of the workers and agreed to a prebankruptcy deal. In that process he did a number of seemingly amateur mistakes (in fact those were direct anti-workers actions) such as misfiling of the documentation form, which led to it being dismissed, organising a meeting on which only a minor number of workers was present together with the director of the company, breaking up starting workers’ unity by agreeing to deal for some of the paychecks be paid directly to workers that were not striking and also believing to the words of management without any form of insurance. He even said that he trusted to the director of the company because he is human and a social partner, so he can’t act differently towards him, he can’t act suspiciously.

Workers’ portal demanded an explanation for these destructive moves, so we asked then president of the TOKG Nenad Leček, vice president Ljubica Hosni and Krešimir Sever, president of Independent Trade Unions of Croatia (one of five union confederations of which TOKG is part of). We never received direct answers, though we did saw in other media that vice president said that she was in support of prebankruptcy deal because it was, as she claimed, the only way to preserve jobs and continuation of the production process and she also added that there is no reason not to financially back INKOP if, at the same time, millions of kunas (kuna, Croatian currency) are being spent at backing shipbuilding industry. As one can see, the actions of TOKG did not only go against the interest of the workers of INKOP, but also against class interests of all the workers in Croatia.

“Orljava” textile factory

TOKG also functions in Orljava textile factory located in Požega, where conditions deteriorated since we last wrote about it. Workers are receiving bare minimal wages, paychecks are regularly considerably late, for example, paycheck for May were paid only on 27 of July. Beside this, overtime work is not being paid. From our sources we have been able to find out that New Union managed to initiate two rounds of legal processes regarding unpaid overtime and that overtime work up to 2017 has already been paid, and that legal hearings for the period later than 2017 will be initiated soon. TOKG did not initiate any legal actions but has even misled its members into believing that this issue might be overcome by peaceful means, which is obviously wrong course of action. Further on, not even members of Works council are taking any action in the name of the workers, and we also have found out that members of TOKG are having difficulties in getting advices from their own trade union. It should be noted that TOKG won elections for Works council – elections were held a year and a half ago – only by initiating a huge campaign, and even calling workers directly into offices, “advising” them on how to vote and at the end, discriminating New Union as an organisation that is planing to bring down the whole company – obviously, fighting for the rights of workers they are defining as bringing down the company. At the end, only thing that TOKG has done after elections, is moving their trusted member into less labour-intensive workplaces.

Leather company “Boxmark Leather”

On brutality of exploitational practices in Boxmark, we have already written three texts.

Austrian company Boxmark Leather is one of the world’s largest producers of leather seats for cars, planes, cruisers and ships and household interior elements. At the moment it has its production lines in seven countries in the world (Croatia, Austria, Slovenia, Germany, Mexico, China and Argentina) and its workers are producing 14 million of square meters of leather garment annually. From this, it becomes obvious that we are dealing with luxury industries with enormous profit rates that is being created by hard work of its laborers.

Boxmark arrived in Croatia in 2001 when it opened production line in Trnovec Bartolovečki – place that was, after several years, transformed into free zone with special conditions, i.e. various financial conveniences for investors, such as complete or incomplete liberation from paying taxes or communal expenditures. In time, Boxmark opened two other production lines: in Zlatar Bistrica in 2012 and in Slavonski Brod in 2015. Today it employs around 4000 workers, mostly women workers, that are producing leather seats for leading automobile producers – BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, WV, Audi and so on. Anti-worker Croatian government is also providing Boxmark with substantial subsidies for modernisation of production lines: last year Boxmark received up to 3.700.000 kunas (about 500.000 euros) and when they were opening their lines in Zagorje, local governments provided them with free of charge communal infrastructure.

The solution is organising trade unions that are capable of doing what true trade unions should do: fight for better conditions and material rights on workplaces.

Boxmark workers work for a wage which is close to bare minimum wage, with constant abuses, pressures, insults and work related diseases – on which was already been said in a TV show Provjereno on Nova TV, where one of the family doctors testified. She said that she treated a large number of Boxmark workers with psychic problems (anxiety, insomnia, apathy) so she prescribed them tranquilizers for chasing away fear and anxiety. Besides, she testified on various physical work related problems (problems with spinal, shoulder and neck diseases, finger numbness…) and explained that workers use certain groups of muscles, wrists, joints and tendons that become inflamed and burnt out from overuse. Finally, she also testified that a large number of Boxmark workers rejected her advice and refused to go on a sick leave – all of fear from losing jobs. Besides, usual practice in this company is to not prolong contracts after initial three year contractual period (which is the legal maximum) and not to give them permanent contract, but to throw them into street.

A faithful ally of management exploiting workers is Boxmark Union (Sindikat Boxmark) which works as part of TOKG. When asked to comment on this TV show president of Boxmark Union Anica Đurinec said that she has no comments as workers in question are not members of Boxmark Union. Besides, Boxmark Union and TOKG has joined in ridiculous and cynical act, when, for the International Women’s Day, together with main manager Tomislav Cesarec they were giving roses to women workers.

To conclude, after years of experience of robbed, disempowered and afflicted workers that had been stripped of their rights and dignity, present workers of Orljava, Boxmark and others must come to conclusion that TOKG is not their ally, but rather their enemy, as it has rejected to act as a mechanism to support workers, what is its obligation, but has rather opted to be mechanism of managers with main task of pacifying workers themselves.

In Croatia, there is a number of such trade unions in other branches (trade, metallurgy…) and they ought to be despised. And the solution is not giving up trade unions all together, but rather a mass abandonment of those trade unions and organising trade unions that are capable of doing what true trade unions should do: fight for better conditions and material rights on workplaces.

Antiradnički sindikat TOKG

Pet slučajeva sindikalne izdaje

Industrije kao što su tekstilna, kožarska ili obućarska u današnjoj Hrvatskoj obilježava težak rad za minimalac, uz nikakva radnička materijalna prava i stalne pritiske od strane Uprava i direktora. Da stvar po radnike bude i gora brine se jedan akter koji se može okarakterizirati kao neprijatelj iznutra – Sindikat tekstila, obuće, kože i gume Hrvatske (TOKG). U tekstu navodimo pet slučajeva u kojima se TOKG pokazao kao produžena ruka Uprave, čest saveznik u uništavanju poduzeća, pojačanoj eksploataciji radničke klase ili pasivizaciji i uništavanju borbenog duha samih radnika.

Tvornica konfekcije Naprijed

Na adresi Radnička 42 u Zagrebu nalazila se tvornica konfekcije Naprijed u kojoj je radilo oko tisuću radnika. Nekada uspješna tvrtka doživjela je klasičnu silaznu putanju – do pada je došlo zbog privatizacije 1992. kad je tvrtka prodana Zvonimiru Guciću, odgovornom i za propast mnogih drugih tvrtki koje je imao u vlasništvu, poput Vesne, Sportske obuće Novska itd. Da je uništenje tvrtke bilo planirano možemo zaključiti kad pogledamo da se na toj vrlo atraktivnoj lokaciji danas nalazi poslovni centar Green Gold, za Privrednu banku, koja je u to vrijeme financijski stajala iza tvornice, profitabilniji nego tekstilna tvrtka. O uništenju svjedoče i potezi ovog tajkuna – jedan od prvih Gucićevih poteza u tvrtci Naprijed bilo je osnivanje tvrtke kćeri s imenom NIK koja nije imala nikakvu imovinu, a potom je uslijedila prva prevara – prebacivanje radnika u novoosnovanu tvrtku kćer bez njihova znanja. Radnici su imali prekid staža od osam dana, a niti jedan dan nisu prekidali rad, jer nisu ni znali što se dogodilo. Krivnju za njihovu neupućenost nosi Sindikat tekstila, obuće, kože, gume Hrvatske i tadašnji predsjednik Josip Zidanić, budući da je TOKG bio jedini sindikat u firmi do otvaranja stečaja i konstantno većinski.

Nakon prebacivanja radnika tvrtka je normalno funkcionirala idućih desetak godina, a potom su naglo započeli problemi te je početkom dvijetisućitih otvoren stečaj. Tada su stečajni upravitelj Miroslav Borš i Uprava firme radnicima savjetovali da sporazumno raskinu ugovore o radu s firmom koja ide u stečaj i da potpišu nove ugovore na određeno s tvrtkom majkom. Obrazloženje je bilo da tvrtka koja ide u stečaj nema nikakve imovine pa radnici neće moći ostvariti nikakva prava, no u stvarnosti se radilo o potpunom prekidu ugovora o radu, što bi značilo da se odriču prava koja bi inače mogli ostvariti kroz stečajni postupak, ponajprije otpremnina za sveukupni radni staž. Radnici su informaciju otišli provjeriti kod Sindikata TOKG gdje su im hladno savjetovali da trebaju potpisati sporazumni raskid, jer je, po logici sindikata, povoljan za njih.

U vrijeme kad je stečaj bio otvoren u firmi je počeo funkcionirati i Novi sindikat, tj. tadašnji Sindikat Zagrepčanka. Oni su primijetili da se rad subotom ne plaća, pod izlikom da radnici preko tjedna nisu napravili dovoljno te moraju rad dovršiti subotom da bi dobili plaću. U razgovoru sa stečajnim upraviteljem Sindikat Zagrepčanka istaknuo je nezakonitost takvog postupanja, no stečajni upravitelj rekao je da se uvijek tako radi, a s njegovom izjavom složio se i TOKG, što ne čudi budući da je ta praksa postojala od kako je TOKG unutra i budući da nikada ništa protiv nje nisu poduzeli.

Radnici su se pod vodstvom sindikata počeli organizirati, zauzeli su tvornicu i time izborili poništenje sporazumnog raskida i ishodili otpremnine za deset godina staža

Praksa je prekinuta nakon što je Sindikat Zagrepčanka dobio potvrdu od Inspektorata rada da je u pravu. U isto vrijeme su počeli učlanjivati radnike u svoj sindikat i upozoravati ih da ne potpisuju sporazumni raskid, no zbog savjeta TOKG-a i stečajnog upravitelja već je 90 posto ljudi potpisalo ugovore. Ipak, radnici su se pod vodstvom sindikata počeli organizirati, zauzeli su tvornicu i time izborili poništenje sporazumnog raskida i ishodili otpremnine za deset godina staža, tj. od trenutka kad su prebačeni u tvrtku kćer bez imovine. Da je sindikat TOKG odmah reagirao na tu prevaru, radnice bi mogle dobiti otpremninu za čitav radni staž (i po trideset godina). Sindikat Zagrepčanka nije mogao naknadno ispraviti tu štetu, no svojim akcijama u tvrtci Naprijed pokazali su da je sindikat borbena organizacija koja može legalnim putem mijenjati zakon kad joj postane prepreka.

Da sažmemo, u slučaju tvrtke Naprijed pokraj TOKG-a prošlo je nezakonito prebacivanje radnika iz jedne u drugu tvrtku bez informiranja radnika, nisu reagirali na neplaćanje rada subotom iako su znali da se kontinuirano tako radi, a kad je tvrtka već bila u postupku stečaja radnicima su dali savjet da potpišu ugovore kojima ih dovode u situaciju u kojoj ne bi mogli ostvariti nikakva potraživanja.

Tvornica KAMENSKO

Osnovan 1949., Kamensko je u socijalističkoj Jugoslaviji bio tekstilni div koji je zapošljavao nekoliko tisuća radnica i radnika, te bio uspješan i u izvozu. Pretvorbom u dioničko društvo devedesetih u poduzeću se otvaraju vrata zemljišnim spekulantima i parazitima koji će Kamensko i uništiti. S obzirom da su se plaće srozale i do minimalca, radnici su dvijetisućitih bili primorani svoje dionice prodavati gotovo za bagatelu, a kupovali su ih tajkuni. Jedan od njih bio je i Miroslav Kutle koji je u Upravi imao svoje ljude, posebice tadašnjeg direktora Antuna Crlenjaka.

Krajem desetljeća situacija je za radnice bila neizdrživa: ne uplaćuju im se doprinosi za zdravstveno i mirovinsko, a u svibnju 2010. prestaju dolaziti i plaće unatoč redovitoj proizvodnji i narudžbama. Kada je došlo do neisplate plaća, radnice su planirale obustaviti rad i krenuti u štrajk, ali ih je sindikat TOKG sa povjerenikom Željkom Šeginom od toga odgovarao, pri čemu ih je uvjeravao da time krše zakon. Radnice su nakon nekog vremena organizirale štrajk na današnjem Trgu Franje Tuđmana, najavile i štrajk glađu, nakon čega ih je na razgovor pozvao Krešimir Sever, ali samo kako bi ih opet upozorio da krše zakon i da odustanu od svoje namjere. Štrajk glađu započeo je 20. rujna, a do kraja 2010. preostalih 426 radnica završilo je na ulici, bez zasluženih plaća i otpremnina. U ožujku 2016. zemljište Kamenskog prodano je firmi Radnik d.d., čiji je direktor i najveći dioničar Marko Habijanec – član i izdašni donator HDZ-a.

TOKG je u Kamenskom više godina dozvoljavao neisplate doprinosa za zdravstveno i mirovinsko osiguranje, a u trenutku kada su radnice prestale dobivati i plaće, kada je dakle direktno ugrožena njihova temeljna egzistencija, TOKG ne samo da nije pokušao organizirati štrajk, već je radnice od toga odlučno i odgovarao. Na koncu, dio radnica posegnuo je i za štrajkom glađu, ali bez rezultata. Eto do čega je radnice doveo antiradnički sindikat TOKG – do samoranjavanja.

Tvornica obuće INKOP

Početkom ljeta 2016. radnici poduzeća INKOP iz Poznanovca pobunili su se nakon što im plaća nije isplaćivana mjesecima. Sami radnici bili su u izuzetno teškom položaju jer najveći dio njih nije bio učlanjen u sindikat niti je znao da sindikat tamo postoji, stoga nisu mogli jedinstveno pregovarati s Upravom i u slučaju neisplate prve plaće zaprijetiti štrajkom.

Radnički portal došao je odmah na prvi dan prosvjeda i razgovarao s radnicima kako bi saznao njihove probleme i zahtjeve. Naš prvi zahtjev bio je da se radnici što prije sindikalno organiziraju jer je sindikat zakonsko sredstvo kojim će moći braniti svoja prava. Tamo je ranije djelovao TOKG, pa je dio radnika kontaktirao tamošnjeg povjerenika s ciljem ulaska u sindikat.

Već je ovdje TOKG pokazao svoje destruktivno djelovanje prema radnicima. Isprva se predstavnik nije javljao nekoliko dana, a kad se pojavio, radnike je pozvao da mirno krenu u mirenje s Upravom bez ikakve alternativne strategije.

Poduzeće je stajalo toliko loše u tom trenutku i obaveze prema radnicima bile su toliko velike da je za same radnike rješenje bilo stečaj poduzeća. Ovdje su pak bile dvije mogućnosti: ili će se radnici naprosto pokušati naplatiti iz stečajne mase ili će, kao u Ivancu, pokušati preuzeti poduzeće temeljem pretvaranja svojih potraživanja u vlasničke udjele. Za potonje je bila potrebna dobra radnička i sindikalna organiziranost. Upravo je to nedostajalo.

Sindikalist TOKG-a je mimo znanja i dopuštenja radnika stao na stranu uprave i uradio niz antiradničkih poteza, npr. organiziranje radničkog sastanka na kojem je bila manjina radnika uz prisutnost direktora i razbijanje početnog radničkog jedinstva pristajanjem na isplatu plaća na ruke radnicima koji se nisu bunili

Umjesto stečaja, sindikalist TOKG-a Savo Šmitran je mimo znanja i dopuštenja radnika stao na stranu uprave i pristao na predstečajnu nagodbu. Pritom je uradio čitav niz amaterskih pogrešaka (zapravo antiradničkih poteza) kao što je, na primjer, bio krivo ispunjeni obrazac za zahtjevom stečaja zbog čega je sam zahtjev bio odbačen, zatim organiziranje radničkog sastanka na kojem je bila manjina radnika uz prisutnost direktora, razbijanje početnog radničkog jedinstva tako što je pristao na to da Uprava isplaćuje na ruke plaću dijelu radnika koji se nije bunio te vjerovanje Upravi na riječ bez ikakvog jamstva. Čak nam je i sam rekao da on direktoru vjeruje jer je i ovaj čovjek i socijalni partner pa se ne može prema njemu ponašati drugačije, sumnjičavo.

Radnički portal je tražio objašnjenja za ove katastrofalne poteze TOKG-a, pa smo upitali tadašnjeg predsjednika sindikata Nenada Lečeka, potpredsjednicu Ljubicu Hosni i Krešimira Severa, predsjednika NHS-a čiji je TOKG član. Direktne odgovore nikad nismo dobili, dok smo iz drugih medija imali priliku vidjeti izjavu same potpredsjednice koja je rekla da itekako podržava predstečaj jer je to jedini način očuvanja radnih mjesta i nastavka proizvodnje te je dodala da nema razloga da se ne spasi INKOP ako se u spas brodogradnje mogu ‘upucati’ stotine milijuna kuna.
Kao što se vidi, politika TOKG-a nije išla samo protiv radnika INKOP-a, nego i protiv klasnog interesa radnika Hrvatske.

Tekstilna tvornica ORLJAVA

Sindikat TOKG djeluje i u požeškoj tekstilnoj tvornici Orljavi, gdje su se uvjeti, od kad smo prvi put pisali o njima, samo pogoršali. Radnice i dalje rade za minimalac, a plaće značajno kasne, npr. plaća za svibanj isplaćena je tek 27. srpnja. Osim toga, prekovremeni sati se ne isplaćuju. Iz povjerljivih izvora saznajemo da je po pitanju neisplate Novi sindikat, drugi sindikat u firmi, pokrenuo dva kruga tužbi te su prekovremeni za razdoblje prije 2017. godine već isplaćeni, a ročišta za 2017. godinu očekuju se odmah nakon završetka godišnjih odmora. TOKG nije pokrenuo tužbe, nego svoje članice zavarava govoreći im da će pitanje prekovremenih riješiti mirnim putem. Nadalje, ni njihovi članovi Radničkog vijeća ne rade ništa za radnike, saznajemo da članice TOKG-a teško dolaze do bilo kakvih savjeta od vlastitog sindikata. Treba naglasiti da je TOKG izbore za Radničko vijeće, održane prije godinu i pol, dobio zato što je pokrenuo veliku kampanju pritiska tako što su radnice zvali u kancelariju, „savjetovali“ ih za koga da glasaju i pritom blatili članove Novog sindikata govoreći da oni ruše firmu – pod rušenjem smatraju njihovu borbu za bolje uvjete rada. Nakon dobivenih izbora jedino što su napravili jest to da su svoje povjerenice promaknuli na režijska radna mjesta i time ih oslobodili norme.

Kožarska tvrtka BOXMARK Leather

O brutalnoj eksploataciji u Boxmarku prošli mjesec smo objavili tri teksta.

Austrijska tvrtka Boxmark Leather jedan je od najvećih svjetskih proizvođača kože, točnije, kožnih navlaka za automobile, avione, brodove i kruzere, vlakove te kućni namještaj. Trenutno ima svoje proizvodne pogone u sedam zemalja svijeta (Hrvatskoj, Austriji, Sloveniji, Njemačkoj, Meksiku, Kini i Argentini), a godišnje njegovi radnici proizvedu oko 14.000,000 m² kožnih presvlaka. Iz nabrojanog popisa industrija s kojima posluje, jasno je da se radi o luksuznim industrijama i izrazito visokoj stopi profita koji svojim mukotrpnim radom stvaraju upravo radnici.

Boxmark je u Hrvatsku stigao 2001. kada je otvorio prvi proizvodni pogon u Trnovcu Bartolovečkom, mjestu koje je kroz nekoliko godina postalo slobodna zona s posebnim uvjetima rada, tj. značajnim financijskim pogodnostima za investitore, poput neplaćanja ili manjeg plaćanja carina, poreza ili komunalija. S vremenom, svoje pogone otvorio je u još dva grada – Zlatar Bistrici 2012. i Slavonskom Brodu 2015. godine. Danas u Hrvatskoj zapošljava oko 4000 radnika, većinom žena, koje proizvode kožne navlake za vodeće svjetske automobile – BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, WV, Audi itd. Antiradnička Vlada RH Boxmarku daje i višemilijunske subvencije za modernizaciju pogona – prošle godine im je isplaćeno 3.700.000 kuna, a kada su otvarali pogone u Zagorju, lokalna vlast im je izašla ususret oko komunalnih naknada.

Rješenje je organiziranje borbenih sindikata koji ispunjavaju svoj zadatak: borbu za veća radnička i materijalna prava na radnim mjestima

Radnici Boxmarka rade za plaću koja se vrti oko minimalca, uz stalna vrijeđanja i ponižavanja od strane poslovođa, te uz razne vrste psihičkih i fizičkih oboljenja, o čemu je u emisiji Provjereno na Novoj TV posvjedočila i liječnica obiteljske medicine. Kazala je kako je u svojoj karijeri primila velik broj radnika Boxmarka sa psihičkim tegobama (ustrašenost, nesanica, apatija) te im propisivala lijekove za smirenje, tj. za odagnjavanje straha i tjeskobe. Osim toga, svjedočila je mnogim fizičkim oboljenjima (bolesti kralježnice, ramena, zglobova, utrnuti prsti) i objasnila kako radnice i radnici na poslu upotrebljavaju određenu grupu mišića, zglobova i tetiva koji se od prevelikog naprezanja upale i istroše. Konačno, posvjedočila je i kako je velik broj radnika Boxmarka radi straha od otkaza odbijao njezine savjete i upute da odu na bolovanje. Osim svega navedenog, česta je praksa u firmi da se nakon tri godine rada preko ugovora na određeno, radnice i radnike (što je zakonski maksimum do kojeg se radnika može držati na određeno) ne zapošljava na neodređeno, već ih se baca na ulicu, tj. ne produlji im se ugovor.

Vjerni saveznik izrabljivačke Uprave Boxmarka jest Sindikat Boxmark, koji djeluje kao podružnica sindikata TOKG. Na naše pitanje kako komentira prilog s Nove TV, predsjednica sindikata Boxmark Anica Đurinec kratko nam je odgovorila da nema komentara i da radnici iz priloga Nove TV nisu članovi sindikata! Osim toga, sindikati Boxmark i TOKG ove su godine na Osmi mart zajedno s direktorom Tomislavom Cesarcem radnicama dijelili ruže.

Zaključno, nakon proteklih godina i iskustva tisuća opljačkanih, obespravljenih i unesrećenih radnica i radnika, sadašnji radnici Orljave, Boxmarka i ostalih poduzeća u kojima djeluje TOKG moraju biti svjesni da je TOKG njihov neprijatelj, budući da nije ono što bi trebao biti – produžena ruka radnika, već upravo suprotno – produžena ruka Uprave čiji je zadatak u potpunosti pasivizirati i obmanuti radnike.

U Hrvatskoj takvih sindikata ima i u drugim granama industrije (npr. trgovina, metalska industrija), i oni zavrjeđuju najdublji prezir. Rješenje nije u radničkom odustajanju od sindikata u cjelini, već u masovnom iščlanjenju iz TOKG-a i sličnih antiradničkih sindikata, ako se već njihova žuta i podanička rukovodstva ne daju smijeniti te organiziranju borbenih sindikata koji ispunjavaju svoj zadatak: borbu za veća radnička i materijalna prava na radnim mjestima.