ZAGREB, August 25, 2018 – Members of the management and supervisory boards of the Uljanik Group said on Saturday, after meeting to discuss a general strike that started in that group last Wednesday, that they did not have the moral right, despite the pressure they were exposed to, to abandon Uljanik and its workers amidst efforts to find a solution in close cooperation with the government, and that they would step down after a solution was found.
Workers of the Uljanik shipbuilding group, which comprises seven companies, including the Uljanik dock in Pula and the 3. Maj shipyard in Rijeka, have been striking since Wednesday because they have not received their wages for July.
The group’s management and supervisory boards said they were working on models to resolve the problem of wage payment. “The management’s resignation would activate the previously announced resignation of all three members of the Supervisory Board, which would mean that in the coming week, when a solution for unpaid wages is expected to be found, Uljanik would be left without any management body,” the two boards said in a statement, noting that a new Supervisory Board would be appointed at an extraordinary session of the group’s shareholders assembly but that before that happened, the group could not be left without any management body as it would lead to its blockade.
Recalling that the group was owned by institutional and small shareholders as well as the state, which has a stake of more than 25% and is the biggest shareholder, the management and supervisory boards said that it was only logical that a solution to the current situation should be sought in cooperation with the government and the relevant ministers.
The two boards also noted that they were not seeking new state aid but rather the implementation of a previously defined restructuring plan even before the European Commission approves it.
Uljanik’s striking workers will go to Zagreb on Monday to hold a protest rally outside Government House, the head of the striking committee, Veljko Todorović, said earlier in the day.
The striking committee has said that the strike will continue until workers receive their wages.
Workers of 3. Maj also demand that the dock be supplied with material in order to recommence production and complete ships already under construction.
