The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare of the Parliament of Montenegro dedicated today’s meeting to the current situation on the occasion of the strike of the disabled workers in Bijelo Polje, Rožaje, and Mojkovac. The meeting was attended by the representatives of the disabled workers Mr Lazar Knežević, Mr Ešef Salković and Mr Murić Hajran.

Apart from the members of the Committee, the meeting was also attended by Mr Predrag Bošković, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare; Mr Jovo Pajović, Director of Directorate for Pension and Disability Insurance and Military and Disability Protection; and Ms Bojana Martinović, Head of Cabinet of the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare.

On behalf of the disabled workers Mr Lazar Knežević spoke at the meeting, and the key request was that the disabled workers could obtain the right for retirement, at the age of 55 for men, and at the age of 50 for women, just like those with 30 years of service, regardless of their age. 

Mr Predrag Bošković, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare said that the problem could not be resolved by strike, but by an actual conversation and agreement. At his previous meeting with the disabled workers, the Minister had made an agreement that the documents should be obtained and submitted individually, and that decisions would be made on each person individually. The Minister remained opened for any suggestion and pointed out that each initiative was more than welcome.

The following MPs also participated in the discussion: Mr Izet Bralić, Ms Zorica Kovačević, Mr Janko Vučinić, Mr Neven Gošović, Mr Goran Tuponja, as well as the Chairperson of the Committee Mr Zoran Jelić. 

The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare adopted the following conclusions:

1) The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare gives full support to the disabled workers of second and third category;

2) The Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare gives full support to the Working Group formed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, and the disabled workers;

3) The Committee will provide full logistic support regarding finding acceptable solutions;

4) It is necessary to conduct a quality analysis of the disabled persons that are in the records of the Employment Agency and the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund;

5) When tangible data is obtained, another theme meeting of the Committee should be scheduled, where the results would be presented.

The MP Izet Bralić, primarius MD, member of the Committee, suggested the following conclusions that the Committee adopted:

1) The disabled workers that obtained the right to retirement should not have the pension lower than their current income;

2) To have their future pension income be freed from the contributions for the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund;

3) To retroactively reimburse the funds to the disabled workers, 35 of them, who receive 33€ per person, and they should have been receiving significantly higher amounts.