Balkaninsight.com reported that some 2,000 workers at the Montenegrin steelworks company Niksicka Zeljezara started protesting on the streets of Niksic due to unpaid salaries and the termination of production at the company.

Mr Janko Vuicinic president of the union of the company's employees said that the employees will not give up the strike and that they are ready to block roads and to hold strikes in Podgorica if officials do not respond to their requests quickly.

He added that "If we decide to go to Podgorica it would be one way, as we are not going back to the factory unless they return us there. Otherwise, those who decide our destinies will not keep their posts."

The workers reportedly requested their unpaid salaries be paid and the re launching of production, which was stopped in early October 2009 because the majority owner of Niksicka Zeljezara, Montenegro Specialty Steels began experiencing financial difficulties. The last salary paid was in October 2009, when production stopped.

Meanwhile, according to some reliable sources, production will restart in spring, when the new electric arc furnace is to be installed. Employees, however, have expressed doubts about the plan.

(Sourced from www.balkaninsight.com)