Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare held a control hearing of Ms Zorica Kovačević, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Mirko Bulatović, Head of the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office in Bijelo Polje and Ms Angelina Međedović, Chef Labour Inspector in the Administration for Inspection Affairs on the topic: “Current situation regarding the tragic event that occurred in weapons factory “Tara” in Mojkovac”.

Minister of Economy Mr Vladimir Kavarić did not respond to the invitation for the control hearing, but he sent an official letter to the Committee on Health, Labour and Social Welfare, stating, inter alia, that “he believes that the responsible services and bodies should be able to do their job  freely and  without pressure, for the purpose of determining the facts that caused the explosion in the factory, resulting in the death of one employee and injuries of several employees.  Furthermore, if the procedure finds the persons responsible, we expect that the competent bodies will impose all legal sanctions to those persons. “

In line with Article 67 paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament of Montenegro, the meeting was also attended by: Mr Igor Vujović, Executive Director of Aerospace and Defence, Mr Vitomir Medojević, Executive Director of  Tara Precision Work, Mr Marinko Medojević, President of the Trade Union of weapons factory “Tara”, Mr Radoje Kljajević, Head of the Legal Department in weapons factory “Tara”, Mr Zlatko Popović, labour inspector in the field of  safety at work - coordinator of the inspetor in the field safety at work in Montenegro, Ms Katarina Kljajević, Deputy Basic Public Prosecutor in Bijelo Polje and Ms Danijela Šuković, Head of the safety at work in the Labour Directorate of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare.

Following the introductory remarks delivered by submitters of the initiative for holding a control hearing - Mr Janko Vučinić, Mr Andrija Popović and Mr Srđan Perić, members of the Committee were addressed by persons invited to thr control hearing.

All invited participants and members of the Committee participated in the discussions, giving proposals and suggestions significant for solving the problems of employees of weapons factory “Tara” in Mojkovac. Several-hour  discussion addressed, inter alia, the following:  respect of laws, overtime work in the factory,  job classification under difficult working conditions, shorter working hours, causes of explosions that occurred, achieved profit of the factory, investment in the fields of protection and health at work, payment of taxes and contributions of employees, act on risk assessment, signing the collective agreement of employees, salaries of employees, health check-ups and vocational training of employees.

Following the discussion, it was agreed that members of the Committee by 31 July 2015 would establish proposal for conclusions with regard to the held control hearing, for the purpose of adopting them at one of the following meetings and submitting to the bodies responsible for their implementation.