Workers at Leoni’s factory in Malošište near Doljevac, who were asked to start working longer hours (amounting to more than one working week), do overtime and work night shifts, plus to accept job transfer within a 50-km-radius, now claim that their rights have been violated with these demands.
Leoni’s employees claim that they are required to sign an agreement giving the employer the possibility to move them to another place of work that is more than 50 kilometers from the place where they are now working or to send them to work with another employer for longer than one year.
The workers also say that the agreement stipulation whereby the employer can take a monetary compensation from their salaries in the amount that exceeds two thirds of the salary also constitutes a violation.
Although employees complained about a violation of their rights, Leoni’s management say that the provisions of the “Declaration of Conformity” were included in the standard job contract since the factory’s establishment in 2009 and that they are fully in line with the provisions of the Labour Law.
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Leoni also points out that the Declaration of Conformity applies to all employees, regardless of their position (from the workers on the production line to the company’s management), citizenship (including foreigners) or place of work (they are valid in all production units – Prokuplje, Malošište, Niš and Kraljevo).
“At the beginning of this year, we decided to exclude these provisions from our Job Contract and put them in a special appendix, named the Declaration of Conformity, in order to give each employee the opportunity to confirm their availability to work overtime, at night, and so on, so that they can earn extra money,” Leoni’s press release states.
Leoni also underlines that that signing the Declaration of Conformity is not binding and that every employee has the freedom to decide whether to sign it or not.
“Even after signing, the employee can always withdraw from the Declaration for personal reasons. By giving their consent, their overtime and night work remains within the legal limit,” the company adds.
Leoni goes on to say that all employees, who have so far signed the Declaration of Conformity, were fully informed of the details of this additional document, as well as the possibility of its cancellation for personal or family reasons, without any legal consequences.
The German company, Leoni produces vehicle cables, and employes close to 6,000 workers in its three plants in Serbia – in Prokuplje, Malošište and Doljevac.
(Beta, 18.01.2019)
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