New wave of dismissals hits provincial administration; non-SNS members, student supporters targeted

A new wave of dismissals has hit the provincial administration in Vojvodina, Serbia, with six employees of the Vojvodina Assembly losing their jobs. These layoffs follow earlier dismissals at the beginning of the year. The affected individuals reportedly share two commonalities: they are not members of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) and they had publicly supported student protests.

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I have a picture from when I was three years old on those stairs, my dad took it of me wanting to go inside, and here I am, I went in, and now I'm almost 63 and I'm leaving.

Svetlana Popadić Ležimirac, a legal professional with nearly 25 years of service, was dismissed just two years before her retirement. "It's for political reasons, it's not transparent, but it's obvious that it's because of that, the six of us," she stated.

Nela Jelić Korać, another dismissed lawyer, described how employees who participated in street protests were closely monitored. "We immediately caught the eye; they were taking pictures of who was going out, who was coming in," she said. She also detailed a climate of pressure, including unequal access to resources like printers and coffee, and the confiscation of mobile phones.

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It's for political reasons, it's not transparent, but it's obvious that it's because of that, the six of us.

Duško Radaković, president of the Vojvodina board of the Freedom Movement, also highlighted the oppressive atmosphere. He mentioned the creation of new, temporary departments to house politically undesirable employees, which were later dissolved, leading to further dismissals. Radaković dismissed the administration's justification of "rationalization" as "completely absurd and senseless," pointing to promotions of less qualified individuals within the ruling party's ranks.

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The first time out here on Mihajlo Pupin Boulevard, when it was at the intersection, I told my colleagues - I'm going out. We have our break, I can spend those 30 minutes however I want. And we immediately caught the eye; they were making a line at the entrance where they were noting who was going out, who was coming in, and then it escalated, so some colleagues literally jumped out of the bushes to photograph us and whatever else they did with it.

Jelić Korać further questioned the "rationalization" claim, noting that overtime hours were being paid and that temporary and fixed-term contracts were still in use. This is despite a personnel plan for 2026 that projects the hiring of 35 new permanent employees.

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From banal things, at one point we who were second had to pay for coffee and water, theirs didn't have to pay for coffee and water. They took our mobile phones, suddenly you couldn't have them anymore. For example, a colleague of theirs, she has a printer next to her, and we all share one printer so they could control whether we print something or not, there was constant pressure in some way.