On 1st June, the
employees of Avala TV and the Macedonian Pink 15 TV were protesting in front of
the Pink Television building in Belgrade due to unpaid wages. They left the
owner of Pink TV, Željko Mitrovi?, a birthday present - an empty box, and
requested that he immediately settle his debts to his employees and pay them
adequately.
Aleksandar Šubarevi? from TV
Avala said that the employees of the media house had not been paid their last
four wages. The employees of TV Avala had already been on strike for two months
of this year, and had been promised to be paid in due time. The meeting in
which this agreement was sealed was also attended by representatives of the
RRA, the Serbian broadcasting Regulatory Authority.
"It is unbelievable that Avala is permitted to broadcast
though they do not respect this agreement and continue to not pay their
employees.", said Šubarevi?.
Dragana ?abarkapa, the President of the
Journalist Union of Serbia, which endorsed the protest, requested that the
authorities ask the owners of the television to immediately pay their employees
and part-time associates what they owe them in accordance with the law.
The Union of Serbian Journalists gave full support to the
colleagues from Macedonia. A part-time associate of the Macedonian Pink 15 TV,
Snežana Anti?, said that they were not paid for eight months.
The EFJ supports the efforts of its two affiliates in the
region and believes such cross-border cooperation is vital when employers are
violating essential rights, such as the right to be paid and remunerated.
This will be discussed at
the upcoming Annual Meeting of the EFJ in Bergamo (Italy) on 15-17 June 2012.