(Fwd) [61] THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS BLOCK SERBIAN GOVERNMENT BUIL

["Curtis Price" <cansv@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

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Date:          Tue, 18 Feb 1997 01:02:56 -0500
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Subject:       [61] THOUSANDS OF TEACHERS BLOCK SERBIAN GOVERNMENT BUILDING BY

JULIJANA MOJSILOVIC ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "STRIKES". The selectivity score was
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Thousands of teachers block Serbian government building By JULIJANA MOJSILOVIC
Associated Press Writer
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Economic demands replaced political ones in a
demonstration Monday against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic.

Transport workers have partially shut down service on Belgrade's city buses --
and threaten a full strike -- and teachers were protesting an attempt to quash
their strike by imposing a wage increase far below their demands.

``We've had enough. We are starving while the regime squanders money on the
police force,'' said Sofija Siradovic, a 35-year-old high school literature
teacher who joined about 5,000 teachers blocking a street in front of Serbia's
main government building.

Three months of political protests were suspended after Milosevic's decision
last week to recognize opposition municipal election victories in Belgrade and
13 other cities and towns. But Milosevic was left weaker than ever, and a wave
of strikes and workers' protests could prove a serious challenge to his rule.

Serbia's economy has been decimated by years of mismanagement and international
sanctions imposed to punish Milosevic for fomenting the wars in Croatia and
Bosnia. Workers' already low salaries often are delayed for months. Factories
are at a standstill.

Teachers from 1,800 of Serbia's 2,100 elementary and high schools have been on
strike for more than two weeks to demand back pay and an increase in their $150
monthly salaries. Transport workers also are demanding several months' back pay,
 as well as better working conditions.

The teachers were infuriated by a deal Serbian Premier Mirko Marjanovic struck
with the state-controlled union Sunday to raise their real wages by 10 percent
-- far below the teachers' demand of a 60-percent raise. The agreement was made
without the teachers' representatives present.

``No one has a right to sign any kind of agreement on our behalf,'' said Jagos
Bulatovic, a negotiator for the teachers. He said teachers would continue their
protest Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the transport workers cut the number of buses operating in Belgrade
by one-fourth and threatened a full strike if they didn't receive back pay by
Tuesday.

``We are forced to do this, we haven't been paid for months,'' said Dragoljub
Stosic, head of an independent transport workers' union. Belgrade streets were
jammed as commuters resorted to private cars to get to work, while others waited
 in vain at bus stops across the city.

In Kragujevac, a central Serbian city of 200,000 now controlled by the
opposition, the once profitable car industry is in ruins. Kragujevac Mayor
Veroljub Stevanovic said the Zastava car factory's workers were poised for a
strike if negotiations with foreign carmakers, including French carmaker
Peugeot, fail to get the factory working again.

Workers in Kragujevac and elsewhere have largely stayed clear of the months-long
 political turmoil in Serbia.

Up to 10,000 Belgrade University students took their demonstrations into the
88th day, demanding the ouster of the hard-line, pro-Milosevic, university
rector and the punishment of those responsible for beating peaceful protesters.

They also called for restoring opposition electoral victories in two Belgrade
districts, lifting media restrictions and autonomy for the university.




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