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------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the Aug. 16, 2001 issue of Workers World newspaper ------------------------- ZASTAVA PLANT: WORKERS VS. PRIVATIZATION Thousands of workers at the Zastava plant in Kragujevac, Yugoslavia, brought traffic to a halt July 19 when they rallied to protest plans to privatize their factory, the biggest in Yugoslavia. Tens of thousands face losing their jobs. Sometimes all the currents of globalism converge on one factory, one town, one country. In 1999, when NATO bombed Yugoslavia for refusing to give up socialism and knuckle under to imperialism's military domination, the huge Zastava factory was one NATO target. The auto plant produced the Yugo automobile, weapons, and airplanes for the national airline, JAT. When NATO attacked Zastava, the workers in the city of Kragujevac went to their factory and protected it with their bodies. Many were injured in the NATO bombing. They considered it their factory--not just a place of work but their property. Under the Socialist Party-led Milosevic government, by law workers were allocated 60 percent of the shares in the factory. The state controlled the other 40 percent. When the new government of Vojislav Kostunica and Zoran Djinjic took power after the October 2000 coup, the first thing it did was privatize state property. Seventy percent of the Zastava shares were to be sold to private investors. Of course, the U.S. government and its representatives knew Yugoslavs would resent the privatization schemes because they would cost jobs. The AFL-CIO and the National Endowment for Democracy helped create Nezavisnost, a labor union friendly to an International Monetary Fund "restructuring plan." More than one labor union represents the Zastava workers. But most of the workers were in the left and socialist Trade Union Confederation of Serbia. "After the DOS-NATO coup, Djindjic promised that no worker would be fired; DOS cheated workers and workers now feel abused," said Darko Nadic, writing from Yugoslavia. DOS refers to Democratic Opposition of Serbia, the public relations name created for the right wing. Downsizing the Zastava factory will hit the left union members hardest. The DOS/NATO government is selling off "the country's most valuable state-owned assets," according to Privatization Minister Alexsandar Vlahovic. With the cash from these sales, the government will compensate the "pre-1945" owners of these properties--which would include Nazi collaborators. OPAH, a pro-privatization Yugoslav investment consultant firm, acknowledges that 27 percent of the Yugoslav work force is unemployed because of the bombing of Yugoslavia's industry and the privatization program. For Zastava, globalization means NATO bombs, the IMF, privatization, downsizing, unemployment, cheap labor, union busting and anti-worker governments. Despite attempts by company unions to sell out the workers, Zastava now displays one more hallmark of globalization: resistance. --H.C. - END - (Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but changing it is not allowed. For more information contact Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscription info send message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://www.workers.org) ------------------ This message is sent to you by Workers World News Service. To subscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, E-mail to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Send administrative queries to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
