Serbia’s armourers cancel protest in capital

They stopped striking on Wednesday after five days and following the decreasing number of co-workers who took part.

Some quitted allegedly due to the pressure from the factory’s management.

The Belgrade protest was cancelled since only 800 gunsmiths said they would go while the union’s leaders planned at least 1,250, a half of a total workforce.

Both the executive and supervising boards of the Kragujevac company called on the strikers on Wednesday to compensate the lost hours by working on Saturdays.

Earlier, the management said those taking parts in the strike would not get paid.

On Wednesday, the company's leaders called on the workers to sign an agreement ending the strike and promised to pay the employees a bonus as soon the ink dried on the deal.

The demands made public at the beginning of the strike included that their factory remained the state-owned instead of being privatised under a new law, the exemption from 10 percent salary reduction implemented on all state-owned companies in Serbia three years ago and better work conditions.

They also demanded the responsibility of the management for a bad situation in the factory and the general director’s resignation, as well as the payment of bonuses.