Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia calls on all workers to familiarize themselves thoroughly with their rights and obligations before going to work abroad, to keep their work diary and documents and become a trade union member. This stems from previous negative experiences of Serbian workers with one of the largest transport companies headquartered in Italy, which hires our workers through its branch offices in Slovenia and Croatia. Namely, Serbian workers weren’t paid the legally prescribed higher hourly wages for the work performed in other EU countries and were exposed to various forms of pressure, improper treatment and discrimination, which urged them to turn to the Confederation of Free Trade Union of Slovenia, as well as to CATUS. Thus, a regular exchange of information under the Fair European Labour Mobility-FELM2 project resulted in a timely trade union alert to the inspection authorities of Republic of Serbia, which responded immediately and, over the weekend conducted an inspection in a hotel in Belgrade where the European company organised a recruitment presentation for C-category drivers for the international road freight transport. According to the CATUS report, market inspectorate carried out an inspection of foreign nationals from Italy and Croatia who had failed to comply with legally prescribed requirements and hadn’t obtained necessary permits and registrations with the authorities, yet were still advertising and directly recruiting Serbian citizens, primarily professional drivers, for work in the EU member states. After the inspection was conducted, they were referred to the on-duty misdemeanour judge who imposed fines on them.
Market inspection will increase inspection in this area to prevent misuse and ensure citizens’ protection from illegal employment offers, in Serbia or abroad. This action is also a preventive measure in the fight against human trafficking involving both Serbian nationals and migrants. FELM2 Project connects counselling agencies for posted and mobile workers within trade union confederations of 8 European countries. This is often the only way for the workers to exercise their rights without incurring additional costs, regarding unpaid or reduced salaries and other claims. Thus, the Counselling Center of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia provides legal aid before the relevant institutions in Serbia and support through partner contacts with institutions and employers in the EU member states. More information on the work of the CATUS Counselling Center can be found here: sindikat.rs/savetovaliste/ and here: www.fair-labour-mobility.eu/
