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All-Out Power Strike in Serbia

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7 August, 2005ICEM News release No. 77/2000

Serbian power workers' union EPS has now declared an all-out strike.

The decision was taken within the past hour by the union's executive.

"We will be gradually reducing power supplies, percent by percent," a union spokesman told ICEM UPDATE a few moments ago. "At present, power supplies in Serbia are already down to about 50 percent of requirements. Many areas are experiencing 12-hour power cuts. We will gradually reduce supplies further. This is now a general strike throughout the electricity industry. But we are taking steps to ensure that priority customers such as hospitals will continue to be supplied."

The power strike will further increase the pressure on Slobodan Milosevic to concede defeat in the recent presidential elections.

The EPS is now drafting a message to the Milosevic administration. ICEM UPDATE will publish an English translation of the message as soon as it is available.

The EPS is affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM), which has already declared global support for the strike.