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27 February, 2000The Italian metalworkers host meetings for discussions on how to build a different future for the workers in the region.
ITALY/YUGOSLAVIA: Milan Nikolic, president of Nezavisnost -- the metalworkers' trade union federation of Serbia, and Hasan Abazi, president of the Metalworkers' Union of Kosovo, met in Italy upon the invitation of the Italian Metalworkers' Federation (FIM-CISL). They attended meetings with the trade union leadership and shop stewards in Turin and Milan, at which Toni Ferigo, responsible for Central and Eastern Europe affairs at the IMF Secretariat, also took part.
Both Nikolic and Abazi stressed the desperate situation in the region since the war. "Milosevic carries the major part of the responsibility for the destruction of our economy and the terrible suffering of the population and workers in Serbia," said Milan Nikolic. "Changes in Serbia are necessary for the entire Balkan region. We are in Europe and only in Europe is our future," insisted Nikolic. "We criticised the bombing as 'a wrong step in the right direction' -- a wrong step because today the regime's propaganda claims that NATO is responsible for the unemployment, and the right direction because at least the international community understands how dangerous Milosevic's policy is. Our union is part of the civil society and was founded to prevent nationalistic adventures. We lost, but we continue to struggle. We are prepared to cooperate with the Kosovo union, to meet with them and discuss what we can do." Nikolic said that, step by step, with the help of the IMF and EMF, they want to build a different future for both their community and the workers.
Hasan Abazi described the situation in Kosovo today. "There is no economic activity. As for the metal sector, only 1,000 workers out of more than 12,000 came back to partial jobs. Factories have been destroyed or transformed into barracks for NATO forces. Communications are still difficult, and there is a government vacuum. What the great majority of Kosovars want now," continues Abazi, "are jobs and freedom, but the major problem is reconstruction, development. Our union does not have much experience, as we were founded in 1990 in order to resist the apartheid policy of Belgrade. The main problem today is social legislation and job creation. Big political games are being played in Kosovo and Serbia, but all we want is democracy and jobs, and for that we are prepared to work together with the Serbian unions which are clearly against Milosevic."
In an IMF-EMF conference in late April, all issues concerning the trade union role in the region will be discussed, says the IMF's Toni Ferigo. "We will at the same time invite our Western affiliates to run solidarity projects there. TheBalkans," stressed Ferigo, "are part of the history of Europe, and it is difficult to think of a future for Europe without them."
Both Nikolic and Abazi stressed the desperate situation in the region since the war. "Milosevic carries the major part of the responsibility for the destruction of our economy and the terrible suffering of the population and workers in Serbia," said Milan Nikolic. "Changes in Serbia are necessary for the entire Balkan region. We are in Europe and only in Europe is our future," insisted Nikolic. "We criticised the bombing as 'a wrong step in the right direction' -- a wrong step because today the regime's propaganda claims that NATO is responsible for the unemployment, and the right direction because at least the international community understands how dangerous Milosevic's policy is. Our union is part of the civil society and was founded to prevent nationalistic adventures. We lost, but we continue to struggle. We are prepared to cooperate with the Kosovo union, to meet with them and discuss what we can do." Nikolic said that, step by step, with the help of the IMF and EMF, they want to build a different future for both their community and the workers.
Hasan Abazi described the situation in Kosovo today. "There is no economic activity. As for the metal sector, only 1,000 workers out of more than 12,000 came back to partial jobs. Factories have been destroyed or transformed into barracks for NATO forces. Communications are still difficult, and there is a government vacuum. What the great majority of Kosovars want now," continues Abazi, "are jobs and freedom, but the major problem is reconstruction, development. Our union does not have much experience, as we were founded in 1990 in order to resist the apartheid policy of Belgrade. The main problem today is social legislation and job creation. Big political games are being played in Kosovo and Serbia, but all we want is democracy and jobs, and for that we are prepared to work together with the Serbian unions which are clearly against Milosevic."
In an IMF-EMF conference in late April, all issues concerning the trade union role in the region will be discussed, says the IMF's Toni Ferigo. "We will at the same time invite our Western affiliates to run solidarity projects there. TheBalkans," stressed Ferigo, "are part of the history of Europe, and it is difficult to think of a future for Europe without them."