Arms producer’s workers in Serbia on general strike

  The gunsmiths in the central Serbia’s town of Kragujevac, have organised a several one-hour warning walkouts earlier.

They also protest against a 10 percent salary reduction implemented on all state-owned companies in Serbia three years ago and demand better work conditions, the responsibility of the management for a bad situation in the factory and the payment of bonuses.

Dragan Ilic, the president of the factory’s union, said that 1,700 workers were in the morning shift and that only a few did not go on strike.

The two other shifts are expected to follow suit.

The company’s director Milojko Brzakovic said the strike was unfounded and damaging to the factory.

He told Beta news agency that the walkout had imperilled the agreed deliveries since some buyers had said they might withdraw from the deals worth millions of dollars.

Brzakovic added that the warning strikes had already slowed down the deliveries.

“The walkout interrupted the process and reduced the expected growth in the production to three from 10 percent,” he said.

He added that the workers who took part in the warning strikes would have their salaries cut down, while those who went on general strike would not get paid at all.