First instance court in Ruma passed the judgement to annul the termination of employment contract of Dragana Božić, shop steward of trade union organization in the factory „HealthCare Europe“ and orders the employer to reinstate her at her work post.
This court thinks that Dragana’s dismissal, which forces her to move to an inappropriate work post and is exclusively caused by her trade union activities, is illegal and the employer is obliged to allow her to go back to work. This is another victory of the CATUS, whose legal department had represented Božić for almost two years, as well as the victory of the Autonomous Trade Union of Workers in Textile, Leather and Footwear Industry of Serbia, CATUS member, to which Dragana is affiliated.
This judgement proves truthfullness of our warnings that trade union representatives are more and more at risk of employer’s revenge because of their trade union work. As soon as workers’ representatives start protesting against injustice or violation of law and asking for better working conditions, higher salaries, respect of OHS measures, they are immediately eliminated by the employer through a dismissal, which is in most cases illegal. This also shows that if we want trade union movement to survive, it is of utmost importance to obtain better legal protection for trade union representatives than the one provided by the Labour Law.
