If they don't receive a response by Friday, they will begin traffic blockades

All four trade unions operating within Railway Passenger Transport of Montenegro (RPTM) - the Unified Trade Union of Montenegro Passenger Transport, the Train Drivers' Trade Union Organization, the First Independent Trade Union of the Montenegro Passenger Transport and the Montenegro Railway Passenger Transport Trade Union Organization - submitted a joint list of demands yesterday to CEO Dragana Lakušić, Chairman of the Board of Directors Goran Simović, and the other members of the Board. In the document, obtained by Portal ETV, the unions state that they are acting „on behalf of all employees in demanding an urgent and equal salary increase for every worker“.

- Montenegro Railways Passenger Transport employees receive the lowest wages in the railway sector, earning on average more than €200 less than the national average. We perform the most responsible jobs in the railway system and are the only ones who transport thousands of passengers every day while bearing responsibility for their safety - the unions wrote.

They presented two demands and stressed that they expect them to be fulfilled as soon as possible „so that, under the most difficult working conditions, employees can get back on the right track and regain the motivation needed to complete another season“.

The first demand is a net salary increase of 200 euros for every employee until the new collective agreement enters into force.

The second demand is an amendment to the collective agreement and the application of the salary coefficients contained in the collective agreement of Railway Infrastructure of Montenegro, in line with the previous agreement with the Ministry of Transport. Under this arrangement, employees would receive salaries based on those coefficients until the merger with Railway Rolling Stock Maintenance and the adoption of a new job classification system and collective agreement.

- The salaries of university-educated employees have long fallen below every acceptable standard, especially compared with the public sector, and most of them receive only the minimum wage, as do administrative workers with secondary-school qualifications. The wages of operational staff are also far below those in other railway companies. The financial assistance you abolished, which was already minimal and barely noticeable in these increasingly expensive times, when the cost of the consumer basket rises every month, was the last straw - the unions said in the letter sent to management.

They emphasized that the deadline for fulfilling their demands and for receiving a response from the Board of Directors and the CEO is Friday, August 7, at 2:00 p.m.

- If we do not receive a response by then, we will consider it a negative one and move on to another form of industrial action, one that none of us wishes to undertake at the height of the tourist season - the representatives of the four trade unions concluded.

The Unified Trade Union of Montenegro Railways Passenger Transport organized a warning protest yesterday in front of the company's headquarters, with the support of the other unions.

- In February, the Board of Directors approved financial assistance of €200 until the collective agreement came into force. A month later, we were told that the company's financial situation was difficult and that they could no longer pay €100 in addition to our salaries. The workers reacted with a great deal of understanding because we know the company's financial situation is difficult. A few days ago they even came to disconnect our electricity, so we know how serious things are. We know the company has been brought to the brink of bankruptcy. But we are fighting for our livelihoods and for the livelihoods of our families. After those €100 payments, on July 29 we were informed that even the €50 supplement could not be paid this month and that there would be no assistance at all from next month – said president of the Unified Trade Union Miroslav Babović speaking to reporters during the protest.

He added that the workers were even more dissatisfied because management had misled them by claiming that the Ministry of Transport had blocked the payments.

- From the minister (Radoš Zečević) to the last administrative employee, everyone told us they had nothing to do with it. The Ministry of Transport was not involved at all; they said it was a decision made by the Board of Directors, which must now take responsibility for that decision and fulfill the promises it made to the workers. That is the Ministry's position. It confirmed everything we already knew. It would have been absurd for a minister who had only just taken office to spend his second day dealing with Railway Passenger Transport by abolishing this financial assistance. The moment they made that claim, it made no sense... They misled us, they deceived us, and Goran Simović hid behind the Ministry - Babović said.

On Friday evening, the unions reached an agreement to support the Unified Trade Union and organize the protest jointly. Shortly afterwards, attempts to obstruct the protest began. According to the organizers, a campaign against the protest was led on social media by the NGO „By Train Through Montenegro“, specifically by its founder Head of the Revenue Control Department at Railway Passenger Transport, Mirko Rmandić, who accused the organizers of „protesting for a sack of flour“.