ZAGREB, November 15, 2018 – After a meeting between Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and the management boards of the 3. Maj dock and the Uljanik shipbuilding group, shipyard workers and unions on Thursday, union representative Juraj Šoljić said that workers will continue striking until their demands are met and workers, who received the minimum wage for September, are paid their full wage.
“Even if workers at 3. Maj were to stop their strike, they don’t have anything to do,” Šoljić said, underscoring that there is no material for them to work with that would enable the continuation of production at that Rijeka-based shipyard. He added that during the meeting with Prime Minister Plenković, workers’ representatives reiterated their stance.
Workers are demanding the replacement of the 3. Maj Supervisory Board and the appointment of a new one, comprising two members from Pula and two from Rijeka in addition to the current workers’ representative. They are also demanding that the dock’s director, Maksimilijan Percan, be replaced, an emergency administration appointed, and all sectors that used to be part of 3. Maj, including the engine factory, be restored as part of the dock, as well as that workers’ representative be included in preparing a restructuring plan for the Uljanik Group.
Workers also want the 3. Maj shipyard’s separation from the Pula-based Uljanik to be included in the restructuring plan and that it be prepared carefully so that 3. Maj can continue working and contracting new jobs.
Šoljić said that workers want to know what will happen to the ships currently being built at the dock. Over the past two days, we had informal contact with the ships’ owner regarding the completion of those ships because they mean life for 3. Maj, he added. He said that workers were told at the meeting that they would be able to participate in preparing the restructuring plan.
The unionist underscored that workers’ representatives said that they would not back down from their demand that the Supervisory Board be replaced and a new one appointed, adding that if an agreement was not reached on that point, the state would have to step in.
Šoljić said that the management board had still not prepared the restructuring plan for Uljanik even though it was said that it would be completed by the start of the week. “As far as I understood, the potential partner for Uljanik has to prove its financial capacity for the programme to survive,” he added.
He added that they were assured at the meeting that 3. Maj would not be shut down and that negotiations were being held with various partners.
With regard to separating 3. Maj from Uljanik, Šoljić said that it can’t be done overnight and that it is necessary to regulate Uljanik’s repayment of a 523 million kuna loan given to it by 3. Maj, the completion of the four ships under construction, investment into technology and injection of fresh capital by a new partner, as well as the sale of shares.
I believe that the bids also offer something and I trust that a model will be found for 3. Maj’s survival and that if nothing else, it will be privatised and operate independently, Šoljić concluded.
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