The Social and Economic Council of the Republic of Serbia gave a positive opinion on the text of the Draft Law on Occupational Safety and Health at the 114th regular session of the SEC. As early as this week, it is expected that the Government of Serbia will form the Bill and send it to the parliamentary procedure.
“We are very satisfied with the text of the Draft that is going to the Government, and then to the Assembly of Serbia,” said Miloš Nenezić, president of the Serbian Association of Employers, after the meeting of the SES. “It is important for every real employer to work preventively to preserve the health of their employees. It is first of all a human and moral attitude, but also an awareness of the fact how difficult it is to find quality personnel today. The fact is that it is a financial challenge for employers to fulfill all the requirements of the law, for some it will be very difficult. However, we believe that the state will have full understanding for this, as it has shown so far”.
The draft law was supported by both representative unions, whose representatives assessed that the text of the law represents a step forward compared to the current situation, especially emphasizing the doubling of fines for non-compliance with occupational safety and health regulations. Trade unions will continue to insist on proposals that were not included in the current text of the Draft Law, such as the introduction of OSH coordinators at the national and regional level and the obligation of companies with more than 50 employees to form occupational safety and health committees.
The session of the Social and Economic Council was chaired for the first time by the newly elected chairman, the minister for work, employment, social and veteran affairs, Nikola Selaković, and the session was attended by Prime Minister Ana Brnabić and several relevant ministers.
“For us, the dialogue between social partners is of great importance. This is especially important in a year that will be full of uncertainty, caused by major geopolitical events, a year that brings many unknowns in equations that are very important for running the state, for managing economic and social processes,” said Minister Selaković, expressing the expectation that in the future all representatives of the Government relevant to the work of this body should participate in the work of the SEC.
President of the Serbian Association of Employers, Miloš Nenezić thanked the Chairman for chairing the first session and the fact that the Prime Minister and several ministers attended it.
“This is a very important step in changing the current practice, I believe that the Social and Economic Council will come to life in the coming period as a real institution, and not sporadically as it was until now. In the coming period, we expect that the topic will be the comprehensive reform of the educational system, which we have started, that the reform does not only refer to the level of salaries in education, but also that through the school system workers are formed according to the needs of the economy and society.”
The President of the Association announced that the abolition of bureaucratic procedures will be the number one topic for the Serbian Association of Employers this year.
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