This year the CATUS has celebrated its 122nd anniversary – April 27 and International Labour Day. These are two dates symbolise workers’ struggle for better rights, higher salaries, and decent life. After May 1st Manifesto was read and our demands sent to the Serbian Government, CATUS President Ljubisav Orbović wished all the workers Happy Labour Day and called to unity so that they would fight together for ‘’the better future for us and our children’.’ ‘We managed to increase the minimum wage to the value of the minimum consumer basket but it is not enough for decent life and that is why we need to continue the fight so that every worker would get the salary covering the value of the average consumer basket,’ he pointed out. ‘Today all trade union confederations will gather in front of the building of the Government of Serbia because we want to show unity in the fight for better rights and better life for all citizens,’ concluded Orbović. On behalf of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia, the first speaker was the Vice-President of the CATUS Council, Zoran Marković, who said that trade unions should not be interested in the politics but only in better workers’ rights. ‘Workers do not want to work for the minimum wage but they want to earn the salary they can live off. The authorities boast of the drop of unemployment rate. What they do not see is the rise of famine and poverty, ‘ Marković pointed out and added that the state, as the largest employer, was preventing us from working and living off our work. He welcomed the arrival of foreign investors to Serbia but stressed that in factories our workers were paid three euros per an hour while in their countries they were paid ten euros per an hour, which was huge injustice. He also explained it was not normal to bring in foreign workers, who worked for even less wages, to do our job while we were on strike. ‘I believe this is just the beginning and this will be the first time that on May 1st the representatives of the Government have understood that they need to pass laws in favour of people who live in this country and not those who live in the European Union,’ concluded Marković. ‘Work should belong to workers. It should not serve as a weapon for blackmail. It has to be decent and that is why we stand shoulder to shoulder with trade unions and support their initiative to amend the Labour Law and Law on Strike in order to achieve the dignity of all, ‘said the representatives of students. The protest ended with a 16-minute silence, as an honour to the people who died when the platform of the railway station in Novi Sad collapsed.
