Members of the INA oil company's trade union Inas cleaned windshields on cars and handed out packets of chewing gum at filling stations in five cities across the country on Monday to draw public attention to attempts aimed at reducing the company to the status of a chewing gum retailer and its workers to windshield cleaners.
Members of the Inas trade union staged their action in Zagreb, Sisak, Rijeka, Split and Osijek, unhappy with the company management's plan to lease filling stations to private entrepreneurs. They said that this would turn INA into a subsidiary of the Hungarian oil company MOL which would get rid of a third of the employees and close down over 100 filling stations.
Unionists said that INA had once owned hotels and holiday resorts and now it had nothing, claiming that its workers were being turned into a hired workforce working for the minimum wage. They called on the government, which owns 45% of the company, to take the necessary steps to protect the national interests and energy independence of Croatia.
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.
The trade union has announced a protest rally for July 18 outside the government offices in Zagreb.
INA's management responded by saying in a statement that the new operational model of INA's retail network would improve its competitiveness and ensure the long-term sustainability of retail business and its growth both on the domestic and on the regional markets.
