Mira Glavardanov
Tens of thousands of students and workers gathered on 1 May in the Serbian capital Belgrade to mark International Workers’ Day. It was the biggest such rally since the restoration of capitalism and the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. The rally was organised jointly by the five biggest trade unions and the students who have been protesting for six months against government corruption.
This is a big step forward for the movement that started after the collapse of the roof at the Novi Sad railway station in November 2024. The students who initiated the protests have been calling on the workers to join them by walking out in strike action. So far only the teachers have done.
In March the students called union leaders to a joint meeting, showing a remarkable awareness of the importance of the organised working class in the struggle for a better society. In that meeting the unions agreed to campaign together to change the anti-worker labour and strike laws. The strike law, which has been in force since 1996 (during the ‘shock doctrine’, i.e. implementation of quick ruthless measures in the restoration of capitalism), is heavily in favour of employers, making strikes almost impossible. Unions have already formed joint working groups to campaign to change the labour and strike laws.
In his speech at the rally, the leader of the Sloga union thanked the students for getting the five unions to act together, which has never happened before. He said that when students enter the workplace, they will not tolerate the despicable conditions that workers in Serbia suffer, and that unions will help them in that. He added that the students have shown that struggle is possible and that workers can rise up too.
The significance of this joint rally is potentially huge. Students know that their movement needs help from workers. They also know that workers’ rights are at the heart of a just society – it is their parents who suffer the terrible conditions after all. Workers have been very demoralised for a long time, with only an occasional strike, but not achieving any significant victory that would give them the taste of their own power. They have suffered betrayals by union leaders.
That the students, whose movement is very popular, have emphasised the importance of unions can have strong results, both to force the union leaders to act, and to re-establish trust in the unions among workers.
The student movement has already succeeded in moving some unions to act more than they have done in decades. This might prove to be the student movement’s biggest achievement. The orientation to the working class and unions is also the right and necessary direction their movement needs to take in order to achieve the fundamental changes in society that are desperately needed.
