A year ago when the information about Fiat workers going away from Kragujevac appeared for the first time, there were extreme differences in opinion. Some claimed it was a well paid job in the factory Peugeot-Citroen in Trnava (Slovakia) while others warned that the gesture of Fiat management confirmed their long-standing doubts about the factory in Kragujevac ending its work there.
Now there is no dilemma. The Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of the City of Kragujevac sees this as giving up the production of the new FAS model, which means that the factory will be closed.
Jugoslav Ristić, CATUK President, says if Fiat plans to make workers work for two or three days and posts them to Slovakia at the same time, it is clear there will be no production.
This status of both the factory and workers hasn’t changed for a long time. Workers rarely go to work and get minimum wage, which made going to work in Slovakia a decent offer, especially regarding the salary of 850EUR per month, accommodation included.
There are nine workers who accepted to go to Peugeot-Citroen in Trnava to work, but they experienced something completely different, something they were not warned about. They did not sign the employment contract with Fiat, but with an agency. Instead of the salary of 850EUR, they were offered 580EUR for the period of three months until they have finished their training.
According to the Law on Posting of Workers to Work Abroad, worker is entitled to a monthly salary which is higher than an average wage of the host country, as well as to the payment of travel, accommodation and food costs.
As Jugoslav Ristić explains, Fiat would like to find a way to make an elegant exit and stop working completely in Kragujevac.
Faced with the dissatisfaction of workers posted to work in Slovakia, Fiat offered somewhat better conditions to a new group of workers. On the weekend they phoned workers looking for those would go to work to Slovakia for 90 days.
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