Vesic: I'm not giving up on the demand for Vance to raise wages for Nikola Tesla Airport workers

Illustration; Photo: HELMUT FRICKE / AFP / Profimedia

Minister of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure Goran Vesic said that he will not give up on the demand peresented to the company Vance to increase the wages of workers doing the most difficult jobs, because they must show that they respect them, as well as all passengers using the Belgrade internatioal airport.

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Vesic, who visited Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport unannounced yesterday, said in an interview with Alo that he did so in order to learn about the true situation, because he "has no use for Potemkin's villages."

"I went straight to the sorting office and talked to people. Now I want to go there with the French director so that he hears what I heard. I have demanded and I will not give up on the wages of workerks doing the most difficult jobs getting increased," said Minister Vesic.

He reiterated that the Civil Aviation Directorate will, based on his order, issue a tender for new operators of ground operations at the airport as a matter of urgency, to which Serbia has the right under the concession agreement, and clarified that this means an invitation to companies engaged in ground operations at airports, such as are check-in and baggage sorting.

"Each airline, when there are several ground operators, chooses which one to work with. This means greater competition and better service, because until now it was mainly Vance that did it. We will call a tender for two ground operators, we have informed all large international companies, because we want them to participate", said Vesic.

He added that nothing that is happening at the Belgrade airport is unheard of elsewhere around the world, but that he blamed the concession holder for not reacting in a timely manner, since they knew that a new terminal would be opened, that the capacity is now 14 million passengers and that this year there will be more than seven million, while Air Serbia launched 37 new routes last and this year, as well as that all carriers have an increased number of operations.

"That's why I was angry with them, because they didn't hire more people in time and pay them more. Now we will work in a different way. An operational team was formed that meets every day at the airport, it includes representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the airport, Vance and Air Serbia. Every morning, they check at the spot how many more people are needed and whether more people need to be hired. They explained to me that other airports also have problems, that in Nice you have to wait three and a half hours to check in, which is all true, but I am interested in the Serbian airport and I want order here," said Vesic.

(Telegraf Biznis)