GSHNER Nezavisnost, the Serbian Trade Union of the Chemical, Non-Metal, Energy, and Mining Workers, held its Fourth Congress in Begrade yesterday, 12 December, under the banner “With New Supply in a New Future.”

A total of 120 delegates from various branches attended as did numerous state officials, management representatives, colleagues from unions of UGS Nezavisnost, and European and global trade unions, including ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda.

ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda addresses Congress

Manfred delivered a speech in which he praised the previous work of the ICEM affiliate in Central Europe and the tremendous reform that the union has undertaken.

He called on all unions in the Balkan countries to join in unity and solidarity, and to form new joint approaches to the valuable work they do for industrial workers. Only through uniting and restructuring, Warda said, can unions respond to the growing challenges ahead of them.

Other guests and speakers at the Congress included Lief Sande, President pf IndustiEnergi (IE) of Norway; Peter Sokkers of FNV Bondgenoten, Ntherlands; Michael Wolters, IGBCE, Germany; Didier Baur, CGT-FNME, France; Kata Iveljić, President of the Independent Trade union of Chemical and Mon-Metal Workers, Bosnia-Bercegovina; Ivan Tomac, President, and Daniel Spiček, Secretary, of the Autonomous Trade union in Power Industries, Chemical, and Non-Metal (EKN), Croatia; Tomaž Kumer, President, and Sonja Kos, Secretary, of the Chemical, Non-Metallic, and Rubber (KNG) Union of Slovenia; and Mato Malić, ICEM’s South-East European Project Coordinator.