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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes resolves nearly 1,400 cases in one year

Belgrade, 2 June 2006

Serbian Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy Slobodan Lalovic said today that the Agency for Peaceful Settlement of Labour Disputes has resolved 1,382 individual and 14 collective cases of labour disputes since it started working a year ago.

Dejan Kostic and Slobodan Lalovic

In a press conference, Lalovic said that eight cases include labour disputes in the fields of public interest, including those in the Belgrade Institute for Blood Transfusion, the Subotica water supply system, Nis health centre, Obrenovac public utility company, Jat Tehnika Belgrade, EPS Belgrade and Kolubara-Vreoci mine basin.

Lalovic said that the agency justified its existence, which contradicts the claims of critics who thought that Serbia was not able to address these disputes in this way.

Lalovic especially emphasized the importance of this agency in resolving collective labour disputes, which are often followed by strikes.

According to him, people are increasingly aware that it is better and cheaper to attempt a peaceful resolution of collective labour disputes.

For a dispute to appear before the agency, both sides need to agree, Lalovic said and explained that collective disputes in fields of general interest must be presented before the agency.

Agency director Dejan Kostic said that peaceful resolution of labour disputes is incomparably cheaper than court proceedings and that it is practically free for participants since the state covers costs.

According to him, it is also much faster as individual cases are resolved in a week’s time on average, while solutions to collective disputes are found within the legally stipulated period of one month.

Kostic said that the agency’s authority needs to be expanded for individual cases as it currently only covers the notices of employment termination and payment of minimum salaries.