WATER UP TO THE NECK

A Wave of Strikes in Montenegro

AIM Podgorica, April 7, 1996

It all began with "Bjelasica" from Bjelo Polje, continued with "Obod" from Cetinje, bauxite mines from Niksic and "4. novembar" from Mojkovac. A wave of workers' strikes and dismissals of managers has been set in motion. Where and when it will end up, it is hard to tell.

Since suspension of the sanctions, under pressure exerted by the workers, about ten managers have already either been dismissed or forced to resign. This was the case with "Servisimport" in Podgorica, VUP in Danilovgrad, "Metalac" in Niksic, small textile industry in Savnik, once large "Titeks", Agricultural Trading Combine in Niksic, furniture manufacturing company "Javorak" which used to be famous far and wide, etc. In the beginning of this week a workers of "Vukman Kruscic" in Pljevlje went on strike, and tomorrow a new enterprise might be added to this list, because discontent of the employees is obviously growing.

Is each of these workers' protest a separate story, or do they all have something in common? Each rebellion of the employees so far could be brought down to dissatisfaction with the situation inside the enterprise. Can this wave of strikes be expected to have broader consequences? How can one explain the suddenly awakened workers' awareness?

Almost six months have passed since suspension of the sanctions and this period was experienced by many as a time of disappointment. Suspension of the sanctions simply did not have any effect on more regular salaries in the economy, and even less on their height - which are the basic criteria applied by most of the workers in assessing the quality of economic revival. From euphoric announcements that "the Government has a prepared program of revival of production" (Vice Prime Minister Asim Telasevic, on the eve of Dayton), they ended up with reserved statements and explanations about internal sanctions, weakened internal economy, and optimism expanding in the direction of announced foreign investments. And the effects? Measured by criteria of the employees, there are not any. Salaries are still somewhere around 120 German marks, they are paid irregularly and with delays. Data of the trade union show that 26 thousand employess receive their salaries with a delay of more than two months. Several thousand workers have not received salaries for over a year. In "Titeks", for example, workers have received only about a hundred dinars in the past year. There are no data on return of workers from the street, that is, from forced leave. The general impression is that nothing new is happening. Moreover, a new fear has spread among the workers - fear of being laid off as surlus manpower. In the period of the sanctions the workers who were surplus manpower could not be dismissed, and now that "normal time" has come again, campaigns of determining and dismissing surplus manpower have begun all over again. "We will lament for the sanctions like we once lamented for the earthquake!" This was the ironic warning of a trade union activist which seems to be acquiring an unexpectedly serious tone.

On the other hand there are interpretations that the whole process (after this series of dismissals in Montenegrin firms, one can certainly talk about a process of dismissal of a whole set of executives) has some positive aspects. According to these interpretations, the economy is in this way freed of a stereotype in management and it is good that those managers are leaving who were not capable to use the time of the sanctions for introduction of profitable production programs, who are obstructing development, transformation, etc. Bad situation in the economy after suspension of the sanctions is interpreted by many as a delayed revelation of all weaknesses of domestic economy which had remained concealed during its isolation.

Why were directors the first targets of workers' discontent? As some believe, they were the first who did not pass the test, because they could not provide continuation of production, more precisely, they did not find a way to bring workers back to work and ensure regular and higher salaries. Even in Niksic bauxite mines, in which the employees could not complain about low salaries, workers' demands to remove managers from their posts were, among other, interpreted by a need to return to the original production - mining, and abandon road construction which ruined the expensive mining machinery.

At the same time there are warnings that the wave of strikes is a revival of the well known anti-bureaucratic destructive instinct. According to these interpretations, ideas about self-management are renewed and the illusion of a possibility to dismiss managers is spreading, which could probably create the impression that it is also possible to overthrow management boards of firms, and finally, the authorities themselves by going out into the street. Dismissal of a manager here and there in Montenegrin economy will not mean a break up with the old worn out methods of management which are being renewed by inertia. The whole system of management is based on the basis of a concept of transformation of ownership which is taking place in Montenegro, where para-state funds are in charge of appointing managers. And since both the state and the funds are in the hands of a single party, it is clear that the existing method of management of the economy is a reflection of personnel policy of the ruling party.

By overthrowing managers as personifications of all evil and grief they have experienced, the workers feel certain psychological satisfaction, and in this way the whole thing ends up within the enterprise. Spilling of discontent outside factory walls, and opening of serious issues of weaknesses of economic policy and of the entire economic system are out of the question. It all ends up with workers' revolt with incompetent management ("Who can be competent in such an environment?" - a manager said) and the whole system of management of the economy in fact continues to operate in the usual manner. But, it is quite clear that this process has negative effects on the authorities (everybody knows who executives in enterprises belong to) and that is why the story of workers' strikes is avoided in state media, but nevertheless, there can be no major political consequences.

Management of the economy is increasingly drawing attention of the trade union. In many enterprises, as claimed in the trade union, workers do not even know what is at their disposal, nor who represents them in management boards or share-holders' assemblies, nor what benefits shares can bring them, nor what they can do with them, nor what role they have now, as administrators. None of the employees know what has happened with the money collected through selling of apartments, what volume of production is planned for this year (honestly speaking, often the managers do not know it either), what is the development plan of the enterprise, when quality system ISO 9000 will be introduced (without which our economy will not be able to be present at the world market). To cut the long story short, they claim in the trade union, fundamental information about operation of the enterprise are concealed from the workers. Moreover, many managers have understood management transformation as autocracy. They have been given the position they could not have imagined even in their wildest dreams. They are not responsible for anything (sanctions were to blame for everything), and they have power to do as they please. To deal with whoever they choose, to sign contracts according to their liking, to determine salaries in sealed envelopes, to send whoever they want on forced leave, to threaten with dismissals and surplus manpower... Workers are often harassed even for the slightest activity in the trade union. What else could one expect, but a beginning of a revolt?

One of the reasons for the wave of strikes is certainly tha lack of any form of participation of the workers in management of enterprises. Since they have been deprived of any (even formal) rights to participate in the process of decision-making in enterprises, and even to be informed about them, the workers have started to resist spontaneously and without any real negotiations they have reached out for strike as what seemed to them the only instrument they had left at their disposal. The trade union warns that the workers are often prevented even to elect their representatives in management boards, because the managers simply "relieve them of this load", which reminds many of the old self-management mechanims.

Although everybody is talking about market economy, the entire economy, by transfer of a large portion of social capital (about 65 per cent), has become state-owned. Therefore, while the state controls the economy through its personnel in management boards of the enterprises, executives are given freedom to outline the policy of enterprises as they please. Nowadays, political intimacy with the authorities (for many reasons) is much more important for the managers than successful business operation in the market. And most frequently, these two are interconnected. It is therefore, not surprising that the enterprises are so interested in having as many persons from the authorities in their management boards as possible. It means that they will be closer to the state funds, opportunities, indeed to money. (It is true, though, that the fact that the minister of trade is in the management board of his enterprise did not help the manager of PTK from Niksic). Members of management boards, however, deal with problems of enterprises only at sessions, superficially and in passing, considering this as a part-time job and an opportunity of easy earning. They are grateful to managers for the little money they earn in this way, and readily trasfer all authority to them. Posts in management boards are literally considered in public to be a sinecure. Without any effort, one earns easy money and obtains useful connections. After numerous scandals linked to economic crime in Montenegro ("Jugobanka", HTP "Boka", Budva hotels...) none of the members of management boards suffered any consequences. This is the reason why it is expected that workers' protests, if they continue, will broaden the lists of possible "victims". Namely, it is expected that they will demand dismissal of management boards along with dismissal of managers.

Dragan DJURIC (AIM Podgorica)