BELGRADE (Serbia), July 7 (SeeNews) – Serbian finance minister Dusan Vujovic has said the government does not plan to intervene in the labour dispute at car maker FCA Srbija for the time being, as it needs to first hear the arguments of trade unions and the employer.
FCA Srbija, a joint venture of Italy's Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Group and the Serbian government, halted production due to a strike of its employees on June 28. They demand an increase of the basic salary to 50,000 dinars ($474.2/415.4 euro) from 38,000 dinars and regular payment of the agreed bonus for this year and 2018, Serbia's Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions said last week.
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The government does not plan to intervene in the dispute prematurely, as the process of finding a solution needs to be carried out in dialogue between the employer and trade unions, Vujovic said in a video file posted on the website of Serbian public broadcaster RTS on Thursday.
The strike in FCA Srbija will not lead to a cut in the government's gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast of 3% for 2017, as all possible negative effects have been taken into account when making the calculation, Vujovic noted.
FCA Group controls 67% of the capital of FCA Srbija through its subsidiary Fiat Group Automobiles (FGA), while the Serbian government owns the remainder.
The president of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Marko Cadez, on Thursday denied media reports that FCA planned to leave the Serbian market, saying that no such information was available.
FCA Srbija was the biggest Serbian exporter in the first five months of 2017, with export revenue of 468 million euro. The company operates a plant in Kragujevac, central Serbia, where it produces the Fiat 500L model.
(1 euro = 120.370 dinars)