22. 12. 2011

Hoarse voice of Cacanski Glas

Cacak, December 22, 2011 (Vecernje Novosti - Serbia) - Employees of Radio Cacak, one of the oldest electronic media in Serbia, fear for their existence as they have not received salaries for more than nine months. Employees in "Cacanski Glas", a local weekly with a 80 years long tradition, are in similar situation, as they have been paid five and a half salaries, despite the excellent turnover of the company.

This was revealed at yesterday's press conference by the presidents of unions of these two media, journalists Aleksandar Maksimovic and Zorica Jakovljevic. Problems occurred immediately after privatization, when all three local media - radio, television and the weekly, fell into the hands of the family of Cacak-based businessman Zoran Bojovic. Union officials say that the owner of all three media was Bojovic's son Milos, currently studying in Switzerland.

"Instead of looking forward to the New Year with their families, we will enter 2012 with trepidation, due to the fact that we were paid the last third of our wages for March on September 7", said Maksimovic on behalf of four employees at Radio Cacak.  "Contributions for minimum wage paid to us were for July, thus leaving us in the position to lose health insurance as of January 1, so we will not be able to validate our children's health cards.

The union has repeatedly tried to find a solution with the director Svetlana Bojovic, mother of the majority owner, who is also the manager of all three media, and who, as they claim, has not shown up in the company for several months.

"Since June, the Radio operates within RTV Cacak, although such company does not officially exist. Employees of the Radio are at a disadvantage, although their wages are also late, or, as far as I know, they received salaries for the first part of September", Maksimovic said.

None of the TV employees attended the conference yesterday.

Zorica Jakovljevic said that they had appealed several times to the Privatization Agency, which has always extended deadlines for the owners to pay late wages.