Workers oust bosses of former Milosevic regime

A wave of anarchy is sweeping companies across Serbia as workers oust directors who were part of the regime of Mr Slobodan Milosevic…

A wave of anarchy is sweeping companies across Serbia as workers oust directors who were part of the regime of Mr Slobodan Milosevic.

In many companies the protest strikes to gain recognition of the election of Dr Vojislav Kostunica simply continued, as workers exacted revenge against their bosses from the Milosevic regime.

Every type of public concern has been affected: large communal farms and food businesses - even health centres.

And the anger of workers has been greatest in those cities and towns where Mr Milosevic's Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) and the Yugoslav Left Party of his wife, Ms Mira Markovic, exerted an iron grip on power.

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The chaos affecting many of Serbia's biggest industries comes as the EU and the US begin to lift sanctions in an attempt to open up commercial opportunities to the country. The former Socialist stronghold of Krusevac, which fell to Dr Kostunica's 18-party DOS Coalition (Democratic Opposition of Serbia), has seen the majority of its directors in its main companies ousted over recent days.

The experience of this town of 120,000 and its surrounding area is typical of that of many strongholds of the former regime.

Krusevac's new mayor, a paediatrician, Mr Sava Popadic, explains: "We had a strike in this town in all institutions for recognition of Kostunica's victory.

"After Kostunica's victory, the workers changed their requests and wanted the replacement of the leadership of the companies."

Of the biggest 12 firms in Krusevac, only three former directors who are members of the Miloslevic party or the Yugoslav Left Party kept power.

In two of those companies where the former directors remained, workers continued to give them their support, despite the external turbulence, the management said.

But the complex story of the 22nd July meat company in the town illustrates the way in which events spun out of control after last Thursday's revolution in many concerns where workers were angry and bitter towards management.

Workers say they were forced to sign petitions of support for the candidature of Mr Milosevic and failure to attend a rally for him meant their pay was docked.

For more than two years under its director, Mr Milan Zivkovic, they were forced to operate by diktat to the point where they felt their professional and individual judgment was not trusted, the workers say. Mr Zivkovic claims that during his two years in the company the more than 500 workers got their pay on time and that he made the enterprise profitable.

Both sides clashed on what Mr Zivkovic describes as "Terrible Tuesday".

He says hundreds of workers outside his office smashed the window, burst through the door and forced him to sign a letter of resignation. "Defending my life I pulled out the gun. It was an air gun. It was not loaded," he said. One of the workers, Radomir Stankovic, said many angry workers were outside the office but he, along with a police officer, tried to calm the situation.

Both he and several other workers say they saw Mr Zivkovic load a gun and that he waved it at them.

Within this tale of past feuds and political pressures the truth is hard to establish and the vision of President Kostunica of a Serbia "without revenge or revanchism" clearly has some way to go.