02.01.2020.
Communication
The Military Trade Union of Serbia is continuing its efforts to cause damage to high reputation that the Ministry of Defence has in the public by disseminating politically motivated untruths and launching attacks against members of the Ministry of Defence particularly in a year when it has shown remarkable success in strengthening the Serbian Armed Forces and improving the financial situation of all members.
Obviously, both this and the earlier undocumented attacks on the Ministry of Defence and presentation of tendentious and false information are part of the political engagement and self-promotion of Novica Antić, a president of the Military Trade Union. He, as a candidate of a political party in the upcoming elections who is not a member of the Serbian Armed Forces, reduces the work of the Military Trade Union to a sole goal which is attempt of its political self-promotion and damaging the reputation of the Ministry of Defence.
In a recent statement, the Military Trade Union has notoriously lied about the procedure of establishing representativeness that was conducted in accordance with the Labour Law. Acting upon a request from the Military Trade Union to establish representativeness, the Ministry of Defence formed a commission that conducted the procedure in accordance with the law. The Military Trade Union, as well as other interested trade unions in the Ministry of Defence, participated in the procedure. The procedure established that the Military Trade Union of Serbia does not fulfil one of the five requirements for representativeness, and it is necessary that the union, by law, fulfil all five conditions cumulatively in order for their request to be positively resolved. Namely, it was found out that the trade union was not organised and did not act on the principle of freedom of trade union association. The Commission for establishing the representativeness even allowed the trade union to correct the irregularity and provide evidence that it fulfilled this condition, even though the employer did not have this obligation by law, but in the spirit of social dialogue it gave the trade union a subsequent deadline for submitting evidence. However, the Military Trade Union did not provide proof of eligibility even afterwards.
A lawsuit to the administrative court against a decision of the Ministry of Defence issued in an administrative procedure is not a lawsuit against minister Vulin, so the trade union again deceives the public with its lies. It should be noted that the competent prosecutor’s office rejected all reports submitted by representatives of the Serbian Military Trade Union against minister Vulin, so the statements of the trade union that they were denied representativeness because they are pointing to the alleged irregularities are completely unfounded.
Considering that the competent prosecutor’s office invited the representatives of the Military Union to submit evidence for their earlier claims, and that they refused to provide any evidence to the prosecution, as well as to communicate with the military police and civil prosecutor’s office, and that again there is no argument confirming the allegations made, the Ministry of Defence will have to file a lawsuit against the representatives of the Military Trade Union, thus allowing them to prove their unfounded allegations in court.
