At its session held on 21 February 2006, the Committee on Transportation and Communications of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia met a delegation of the Serbian Railway Workers’ Union to discuss problems at the state-owned railway company, Zeleznice Srbije.

The president of the Railway Workers’ Union, Vukasin Cvetkovic, and his trade union associates, informed the Committee about the poor financial and social situation of railway workers, and the course of restructuring of the company. They stressed that the key cause for disaffection was earnings, which were as much as 18% lower than the Serbian average. The union officials said that they had been very co-operative throughout the restructuring process, as well as that 11,000 employees had left the company when offered severance payments in restructuring.

The Assistant Minister of Capital Investment, Dejan Lasica, agreed that the financial situation of railway workers was poor, adding that this was in part due to curbs on public spending. He also spoke of possible infrastructure credits being granted by the European Investment Bank, rationalisation of the railroad network, and the separation of non-essential activities from the company’s core activity.

After a two-hour meeting, the Committee resolved to take part in solving railway workers’ problems forward minutes from the sitting to the Ministry of Capital Investment, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy, the Ministry of Finance, the Serbian Independent Trade Union, and the Serbian Railway Workers’ Union.

The sitting was chaired by the Committee’s chairman, Dragoljub Stamenkovic.