Zenica has been and remains a synonym for steel production for decades. This year, the 130th anniversary of the start of Zeljezara in this city is marked, and the decades-long tradition of the Zeljezara Zenica is inherited by the company of the same name, which is now in bankruptcy. The remaining workers of the company with multimillion-dollar assets and the problem of the length of service for which there was no bridging process, still believe that the Zeljezara can and must survive.
From the former industrial giant, founded 130 years ago, today the company of the same name, Zeljezara Zenica still exists, but it is in bankruptcy, Federalna writes.
“Zeljezara exists today and has about 80 workers, it has assets of 120 million. So – it is here, it still exists, ” said Avdija Halilovic, president of the union of workers of the Zeljezara Zenica in bankruptcy.
Production facilities are still operating successfully today, but under a different name and at the expense of foreign capital. After the privatization in the 1990s, Zeljezara Zenica will remain a company with non-productive parts of millions of assets. Its fate will be determined by the then ownership transformation.
“The beginning of the end of the Zeljezara Zenica happened in 1999 and 2004 because the entire production segment of Zeljezara moved to Arcelor Mittal and that Zeljezara, according to the plan of those who did it, should disappear in 2-3 years,” noted Kenan Mujkanovic, president of metalworkers’ union of Zenica-Doboj Canton (ZDC).
It has not disappeared, and workers of this company are trying to correct injustices. They are suing for the debt created by merging state ownership with the Kuwait Investment Fund into BH Steel company. At that time, the balance of Zeljezara was reduced by about 30 million dollars, which was the capital that the Kuwaitis had to bring into the formed company, and it is the consolidated debt of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) to the state of Kuwait.
“The Federation of BiH (FBiH) government sent an audit firm, they found that there is a debt, over 50 million and that it is alright. We are now asking for this in court. We owe 35 million debt, they closed us, and they owe us 50. We need to get 11 million for Stacionar from canton, we are the richest company in BiH, and we are closed, “ claims Halilovic.
Vedad Catovic, an employee of the bankrupt Zeljezara Zenica told: “The closure of that facility caused great collateral damage – its estimated value today is around 9 million BAM and is under the status of a mortgage from the Tax Administration. The sale itself, if that happened, could lead to the bridging of the service period.”
Zeljezara Zenica and its workers prove that bankruptcy does not necessarily mean the end of the company. Some of them are working on the insurance business so that the previous scenario would not happen – the destruction of property and sale for nothing. The recently restarted plant for forged haberdashery meant work for new workers, but also preserving the tradition of steel production under the old sign and name.
E.Dz.
