A protest rally was staged by members of the INA oil company's trade union "Inas" at noon on Thursday outside the government's headquarters against the company management's plan for petrol stations outsourcing.
The demonstrators held the protest under the slogan "INA does business, MOL develops itself" to warn also workers who are thinking to hold petrol stations on lease from INA that they will forgo their rights acquired during their years of service in INA.
The protesters also fear that this may pave the way to reducing the company to the status of a subsidiary of MOL.
The Hungarian oil and gas group's stake in INA is just short of a majority. The other big shareholder in the company is the Croatian government.
This past Monday Inas unionists staged their action in Zagreb, Sisak, Rijeka, Split and Osijek, unhappy with the company management's plan to lease filling stations to private entrepreneurs. They said that this would turn INA into a subsidiary of MOL which would get rid of a third of the employees and close down over 100 filling stations.
According to the union's figures, about 2,700 people are currently working in INA's retail network, and unionists say that they would be outsourced from the company so that the employer could make an extra profit.
INA's management responded then by saying in a statement that the new operational model of INA's retail network would improve its competitiveness and ensure the long-term sustainability of retail business and its growth both on the domestic and on the regional markets.
