The Big Purge

Accustomed to all kinds of evil and misfortune, Belgraders are not very much distressed by the smaller group of redundant employees of Radio and Television Serbia who have been gathering on the plateau in front of Television Serbia every day since Tuesday January 12th. The months-long harassment of the ideologically unfit journalists and members of the firm's Independent trade union culminated a day before that when, while going to work, all the employees had to hand in their passes which, after a computer checking, were returned only to some. The others (according to the information of the Independent trade union there are 332 of them in Television Belgrade alone, and it is estimated that they number 1300 altogether) could no longer enter the well guarded building. Some weren't even allowed to collect their things. There is no need to stress that there has been no written notice - the castaways found out in the halls that they are on compulsory vacation and that from then on they would be receiving 80 percent of their salary (the notices which the security officers at the entrance started handing out only on January 14th do not give the date when they are supposed to return to work). In order for the humiliation to be even greater, these people are forced to come every day and to report to their editors from the lobby, because they are obliged to come to work within 48 hours in the event of a call from their office, and also, if it is determined that they did not come to work for three days and that they have no excuse, they could be fired. Thus, the noon gatherings are also, partly, elicited because all these people have to come anyway for the obligatory roll-call.

The situation is similar in Radio Belgrade, Novi Sad Television, in Pristina, and the overall number of compulsory "vacationers" in Radio and Television Serbia is estimated at over 1500 people (there is, of course, no official information).

The Television's management brings such moves in connection with the beginning of the rationalization in this excessively big firm. Saying that these measures have affected 20 percent of the employees in the program sector and 30 percent of administrative employees, Vlado Milosevic, the head of the Working unit for research (whatever that may mean) claims that the reasons for this are "exclusively of an economic nature". He was joined by the pro-government trade union of Belgrade Radio and Television which issued an announcement saying, among other things, that "the decision on compulsory vacations is an extracted measure and that it is the result of the unjustly imposed economic blockade against our country" and that "Radio and Television Serbia must share the fate of those paying television fees".

This kind of care which television fee payers are not used to would certainly be praise-worthy if the story about saving isn't based on unsound arguments. During the election campaign alone, the Television earned around 10 billion dinars, that is a hundred times more than it will save with the reduction in salaries. Apart from that, one second of commercials in prime time shows costs 60 thousand dinars, so that the monthly saving from the sending of people on compulsory vacation can be covered by thirty minutes of commercials. If one is speaking about the financial effects, one should certainly not forget the damage that will undoubtedly be done with the departure of a large number of good engineers and technicians who somehow managed to keep "alive" the outdated technology. Therefore, the reasons for the purge have nothing to do with economics. The president of the Television's Independent trade union, engineer Lazar Lalic said: "The difficulties in which Radio and Television Serbia is are a screen for a political purge. Instead of answering for the catastrophic state which they brought the firm into, the managers are making lists of the unfit which also include people who have been pointing to the bad business policy for quite some time. The technical system is endangered because the equipment and spare parts can only be obtained abroad. With its policy in the past two years, the management has left the system without spare parts and thus it has brought into question the production of programs and broadcasting. They now don't even shy from sending on compulsory vacation the people who do vital technical jobs - because of their political unfitness or because of publicly unmasking their business policy."

The fact that Belgrade Television took on 147 new employees without an official job offer by the end of last June alone and that, just recently, the Informative program accepted six new associates, definitively proves wrong the thesis about saving. Among the "banished" are mostly members of the Independent trade union and journalists who were, even up to now, suspended because of thinking out loud about the editorial policy. So far the list has been very impressive because it also includes experienced professionals who are well known to the public.

The situation in Radio Belgrade is similar with 58 people having been thrown out from the First program, which accounts for 20 percent of the employees.

There exist examples of solidarity but they are conspicuously rare. No one joins the group of the most popular who protest in front of Television Serbia, because there is fear which is nurtured by the threats that this is not the end of it and that there will be more names on the list every Monday.