Mašina

What will the amendments to the Law on financial support for families with children bring: it could have been better

In early March 2021, the Ministry of Family Welfare and Demography initiated the long-awaited public debate on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on financial support for families with children. The Draft Law brought positive changes regarding the legal rights of mothers of children with disabilities, introduced penalties for institutions, managers and executors who make omissions in … Read more

Workers Organizing in the Digital Age – Outlooks for the (near) future

The increased digitalization of labor presents a whole new set of challenges from the legislative and labor organizing perspective. Companies use sophisticated software to monitor their employees, but workers can also utilize software in their struggle for labor rights and a more equitable economy.

Thousands of people supports freelancers. Negotiations with the Government announced for Monday

Protest of the Association of Internet Workers in Serbia

Online workers held a protest on Saturday in front of the National Assembly of Serbia. The authorities accepted invitation to negotiations, stated Miran Pogačar, president of the Association of Internet Workers (URI). Members of URI added that this is a small victory and that they will continue to fight.

Autonomous trade union opposes the privatization of Pharmacy “Belgrade”

The Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Belgrade opposes the privatization of the Pharmacy “Belgrade”. The trade union believes that this pharmacy institution, whose founder is the city of Belgrade, must remain a part of the public health system and a guarantee of adequate supply of medicines to the citizens.

Party of the Radical Left founded

The Radical Left Party (Partija radikalne levice, PRL) was formed by transforming the Social Democratic Union, whose members adopted the new political Programme, the Declaration of Workers’ Rights, as well as the necessary statutory changes, at the 12th regular congress. According to the programme, the PRL will “fight for a socialist society based on equality, solidarity, freedom, democracy, internationalism, anti-imperialism and anti-fascism, a society in which people will be more important than profit”.

Construction workers from India are returning home thanks to international trade unions ties

The construction workers from India who started a strike in the middle of the previous week, demanding their overdue wages and to be allowed to return home, will be able to travel back starting this week, Mašina found out. This is not the first time that workers from India are dissatisfied with working conditions in Serbia, and the whole case raised questions regarding the necessity of international cooperation, which we discussed with representatives of the trade unions from Serbia and India.

You need young workers with no labour rights? Join the “My first salary” government programme

According to the official internet page, the “My first salary” government programme is meant to act as a youth employment incentive and support the national economy, struggling with lack of educated employees. Ten thousand young people, who have just completed high schools and faculties will be given a chance to work in a company in … Read more

Construction workers from India are protesting in front of the city administration headquarters in Kraljevo

Construction workers from India say that they haven’t received salaries for several months, that they are hungry and that they want to return to India, writes Kraljevo online. Some of them held messages such as: “No food, no water” and “Company not given proper food from last 15 days”. The City Administration in Kraljevo confirmed … Read more

“It is our duty to show that we will not put up with injustice.” Protests for the release of political prisoners continue

“It is our duty to be here, to show that we will not put up with injustice” and “We will be even louder until all political prisoners are released” are some of the messages activists of the Joint Action Roof over Your Head addressed the public with at Wednesday’s protest in front of the Misdemeanor Court in Belgrade.

Beating and jailing of non-violent activists followed by protest in front of Belgrade Central Prison

The police arrested non-violent protesters, among them leftist activists, on the sixth day of protests. Joint Action Roof Over Your Head organized a protest outside Central Prison in Belgrade demanding the release of “political prisoners”. Three members of the anti-eviction activist group Joint Action Roof over Your Head, who participated in last week’s protests, were … Read more

Protests in Serbia: “People are sick and tired of such injustice”

For two days in a row Serbian citizens have been protesting against their government and the new anti-pandemic measures the president had announced. Both on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon the protests started peacefully, only to turn into a havoc of protester-police clashes and police brutality as the night fell. The alt-right is trying claim the lead and steer the riots according to their agenda. Meanwhile, some left wing organizations see the demonstrations as a spontaneous expression of people’s justifiable dissatisfaction with the government and long accumulated anger.

Protests in largest Serbian cities. Government answers with police violence

Protests in Serbia erupted on July 7 after president Aleksandar Vučić announced that the government will  reintroduce heavily restrictive measures due to the bad epidemiological situation in the country. During his announcement the president put blame on the citizens for the acute health crisis. The protests continued last night in several cities in Serbia. Similarly to the first night, there were riots and brutal police violence.

The green-left coalition achieves game-changing results in the parliamentary elections in Croatia

The green-left coalition won 7 seats at the Croatian 151-seat parliament, surprising everybody. The turnout was less than 50%, the lowest ever in Croatia’s parliamentary election. The conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) won the biggest chunk of the electorate, while the Social Democratic Party (SDP) suffered a heavy blow to its position. Several right-wing parties won seats, too.

Meeting the Left: Luka Mesec

According to Luka Mesec, coordinator of the Slovenian party Levica (the Left) and Slovenian MP, the coronavirus pandemic exposed many of the capitalist system’s shortcomings, creating opportunities for left-wing politics. The pandemic has clearly shown that it is the workers, and not the managers, who ensure the functioning of our economies, emphasizes Mesec.

The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia awarded Mašina with a special plaque for coverage of workers’ rights in Serbia

Mašina was awarded a special plaque by the Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia (NUNS) “for an innovative approach to investigative journalism and coverage of the topic of workers’ rights in Serbia”, as it was said at the ceremony. The plaque was also awarded to the editorial board of Južne vesti, while the awards for investigative journalism were given to colleagues: Adam Santovac, Aleksandar Đorđević, Jelena Veljković and Vuk Cvijić.