PROTESTS OF WORKERS

HEROES FROM FRANJA'S STREETS

AIM ZAGREB, February 21, 1999

On February 15, 1999 strong forces of the Croatian Ministry of the Interior were seriously defeated at home. Namely, that Monday some two thousand workers of "Diona" - a chain of department stores owned by a fallen tycoon Miroslav Kutle, went out into the streets of Zagreb. They were protesting against years-long insane business policy of the terminator from Siroki Brijeg who brought financial ruin to once reputable and profitable firm. Sometime after noon the workers gathered near Marko's Square - the location of the Croatian Parliament and Government - where they were confronted by police forces who were ordered not to let a single demonstrator get through the Stone Doors leading to Gornji Grad. After wrestling with the police for some time, about 500 workers managed to break through the police blockade and reach the chambers of Zlatko Matesa and his ministers. That was the first blockade-running in the history of the local trade union protests.

That same night the prime time news of the Croatian TV informed that a "drunken, uncontrolled mob has seriously wounded a policeman", while one daily of state provenance in the subtitle of its report on "Diona" protest stated that the "social unrest has taken its first victim". Neither were interested in the fact that the mentioned policeman suffered only minor injuries and that he was released from hospital after one hour, nor cared for the notorious truth that a dozen of citizens had suffered at least the same injuries as the "seriously injured policeman" during last year's show of police force at Ban Jelacic Square.

By all appearance, after years of oppression and humiliation, the Croatian workers have finally chosen a more radical form of resistance to Tudjman's regime - namely, a regime which in all these years managed to design and implement only one project in all its details: it is called the ruthless plunder of national wealth and was carried out under a code name "transformation and privatization". The working class of this ruined country responded to that robbery by years of silence and whenever it decided to publicly protest these protests mostly ended with harmless placards, general anti-tycoon messages and pathetic patriotic singing. Now, when the situation has become desperate, when once powerful firms are squirming in the mud and when each worker who has received his wages for last August in February can consider himself lucky, hundreds of thousands of workers have realized that they have nothing more to lose. And the moment they realized that there was nothing left for the to lose, no police line seemed as impenetrable as, for example, on February 20, 1998 when some ten thousand Penic's mercenaries were defending and managed to defend the central Zagreb square from about the same number of trade union protesters.

Therefore, there is no doubt that very soon an army of employees from other firms, which are still within the disintegrating financial empire known under the name of "Globus group", will follows suit of "Diona's" workers. The defence headquarters of the "Karlovac Dairy" have announced a blockade of all Karlovac main streets for this week if Matesa's Cabinet doesn't resolve this firm's problems which its former owner Kutle has ran into enormous debts and along the way also burdened it with tens of millions of credit obligations. However, the disintegration of Kutle's empire is not the only cause of threatening protests in Tudjman's land: namely, the situation in the business holding of a tycoon from Janjevo, Josip Gucic, is no better. Recently, in an interview Gucic publicized his ingenious idea that he would gladly return his thirty enterprises to the state if the state would give him back the money he paid for the mentioned firms. In all this it never crossed his mind that he had sucked these firms dry using whatever method he thought suitable for that purpose.

Announcing their repeated and soon protests in the streets, the Free Trade Unions of the "Ferimport" workers presented last week data according to which during Gucic's reign - which, accidentally, continues - 110 million kunas were taken from this enterprise, almost all real estate was mortgaged and the assets of this once strong trade chain used for patching up financial gaps in other firms from Gucic's empire. Incidentally, "Ferimport" trade unions once before organized street protests against Gucic's occupation, but to no avail - with unselfish assistance of armed members of Tutin's "Riot Squad" the rich businessman from Janjevo conquered the mentioned firm and, what is more important, took over its attractive business premises in the centre of Zagreb.

But, if anyone thinks that the only problem of Croatian economy lies in the disintegration of tycoon concerns, he is much mistaken. Namely, in literally every branch of the Croatian economy, which you can think of, workers are on the verge of despair and ready to raise their voice. Headquarters of the Metal Workers Trade Unions have been conducting fruitless negotiations with the Government for days, and trade unions are announcing large-scale strikes unless the situation of some ten firms from that sector is resolved by the end of February, when the workers will prevent directors and other members of the management from entering the firm. Strikes are also expected in the national oil company - INA in which negotiations are underway on the amount on the next paycheque, but due to the aggressiveness of the management, no agreement is in sight. Workers of the "Elektroprivreda" (power generating industry) are also threatening to go on strike and literally leave the entire Croatia in darkness. Similar is the situation with construction workers who, as a result of thirty percent reduction in investments, are faced with possible large-scale lay-offs. Teachers and workers of the Croatian Railways should also be counted in. During all these years the latter have most frequently irritated Tudjman's authorities with their demonstrations and strikes which, needless to say, did not produce any tangible results.

This whole story about potential mass expression of workers' dissatisfaction and formation of headquarters for the defence of ruined firms, should be concluded with similar announcements of six opposition parties. Namely, six opposition leaders have made public their plan to invite citizens to express in the near future their dissatisfaction with Tudjman's regime in the streets of Zagreb. And the proof that the noise coming from the grass roots is slowly reaching the presidential chambers on Pantovcak, are statements of the political commissioners of the ruling party who are doing nothing else these days but furiously slinging mud at "revolutionary methods" of the six opposition leaders and trade unions. Naturally, the panic among the ruling elite is quite understandable as both Franjo Tudjman and his aides know full well that the only card they can play in case of larger-scale workers demonstrations is the well-developed repressive apparatus. Tudjman has no other way out, except for a possible "air-way" to Buenos Aires.

IVICA ZIKIC