Fiat brought workers from Italy to Kragujevac, who paid them incomparably more than workers from Serbia, about 100 euros per day, said the long-time leader of the Independent Union of the City of Kragujevac and the Zastava Arms Factory, Jugoslav Ristic. This is also the reason why this factory decided to bring 800 new workers from Morocco and Nepal.
"It is clear that workers will come from abroad, because it is obvious that the people in Kragujevac are not interested in those salaries, which are slightly higher than 70.000 dinars, because they cannot survive on that. That is why they are reaching out for the arrival of workers from Nepal and Morocco, countries where people are very poor," Beta Ristic, who is also the president of the "Nova sveltst" Association, told the agency.
He stated that in Nepal, which has a population of 27 million, more than half of the people have less than $1,25 a day to spend, while Morocco with 37 million inhabitants, it has a GDP more than three times smaller than Serbia's.
Radomir Erić, city councilor for the economy, said that the import of workers from these two countries is being prepared, even though there are about 9000 unemployed people in Krahujevac.
Serbia must remain a country of cheap labor
According to Ristić, the average salary in Serbia is about 108.000 dinars, and in Kragujevac it is several thousand dinars less.
U Fiat factory in Kragujevac, a worker can earn around 90.000 dinars if he works on all Saturdays, but that means he works more than 40 hours a week.
He believes that if Fiat paid a worker here 1.000 euros per month, and how to provide for the workers, and that the state, which has a third share in the company, could regulate it.
"A long time ago, our politicians proclaimed that the number of our people who leave Serbia to work in the West should be equal to the number of those who come from abroad, and that this process has started. The message is that Serbia must remain a zone of cheap labor. This is the policy of multinational companies supported by our government," claimed Ristic.
The deal with the Filipinos fell through.
The president of the regional board of metalworkers of Central Serbia from the Independent Union, Goran Milić, told the Beta agency that domestic workers employed by Fiat stay for several days and "run away", most likely because of low wages.
He adds that there are no foreign workers in the car factory in Kragujevac yet, but there is a lot of talk about their employment.
It was also mentioned that 80 Filipinos would come to the Wacker Neuson company to work as welders, but that arrangement fell through.
"It was expected that the foreign workers would only pay ten percent tax, which the state did not allow, so they gave up because it was not worth it for them to pay the full amount. And their salary was supposed to be 500 euros, with two meals and accommodation of 100 euros paid. In that case, these workers would be cheaper than ours," said Milić.
He noted that it is normal for local welders to go abroad to work for eight euros per hour, while in Serbia that work is paid for two euros per hour.
Source: Beta
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