Some 200 members of the INA oil company's trade union "Inas" on Thursday protested outside the government's headquarters against the management's plan for petrol stations outsourcing, demanding that the government open negotiations to ensure that the workers remained in the national oil company.
Carrying banners reading "INA does business, MOL develops itself," "Extra profit at the expense of workers", "From a respectable oil business to a poor servant", the protesters shouted "betrayal" and "thieves"", demanding of the government to protect Croatian national interests.
The workers protested against the plan of the INA management to lease petrol stations to private entrepreneurs, which would lead to the termination of employment contracts and loss of their rights acquired during their years of service in INA.
According to the union's figures, about 2,700 people are currently working in INA's retail network, and unionists say that they would be outsourced from the company so that the employer could make an extra profit.
Inas president Maja Rilovic said it was high time for the government, as a 45% owner of INA, to decide whether it wanted to see the biggest Croatian oil company develop into a regional leader or become a subsidiary of the Hungarian oil giant MOL.
Rilovic underlined that the INA workers were forced to this form of protest as the government and the prime minister declined to meet them.
She said that Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and President Ivo Josipovic should learn from the example of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has clearly said that MOL is a company of national interest.
