Agroziv workers receive their first redundancy benefits – Public call for privatization published

The payment of the long-awaited social program in the Zitiste company Agroziv began on May 25, and the head of this municipality Mitar Vucurevic confirmed that 189,200,000 RSD had been paid to the specific-purpose account of the local self-government, which is protected from possible blocking. This money will be used to pay compensations to 369 workers, who will receive 200 EUR each (in RSD currency) per year of service.

By the end of this week, the workers will be able to come to the company’s headquarters to get documents in order to regulate their future social status. Also, it is expected that the Solidarity Fund will provide the money for the payment of nine minimum wages for the employees who continued working for the facility’s lessee after the cessation of production at Agroziv in May 2014.

The representatives of the Independent Union andt trade union Nezavisnost of Agroziv, Branko Nadazdin and Joca Katic expressed their satisfaction with the social program, but also said that they expected the Serbian Government to help find the strategic partner for the poultry slaughterhouse in Zitiste and the continuation of the production in it. Last year, BG Mibras tried unsuccessfully to restore the slaughterhouse, whose facilities and farms have been empty for months now.

In the meantime, the state, which has become the majority owner of Agroziv through the takeover of shares from Srbijagas, published a public call for the submission of offers for the participation in the privatization of Agroziv. It is not known whether any offers to take over the ruined food brand and revitalize the poultry production have been submitted so far.

Losses and debts

Although only Agroziv’s brand name survives, enforcement officers keep finding, on a daily basis, movable property to offer for sale to pay out the creditors. The company’s account has more than 3.5 billion RSD blocked, while Srbijagas invested over 30 mil EUR to the unsuccessful attempt at renewing the poultry production in Zitiste.