Relationship between the Company S. H. Gutmann d. d. and Trade Unions

Abstract

The paper investigates the relationship of the largest wood industrial company in Central Europe S. H. Gutmann d.d. with trade unions that were active in the company. Salomon Heinrich Gutmann d. d. Trade Company played a very important role in the overall wood industry of Yugoslavia between the two World Wars, and it had an indispensable role in constructing of plants such as saw-mills, wood derivative production plants and chemical wood processing plants. All of this resulted in abundant experience of the management regarding the struggle with the labour force. After the breakup of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, the company entered a stage of instability. Those rather adverse circumstances directly affected political and social changes, as well as changes in the managerial structure of the company.

The new government of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians decided to institutionalize workers’ rights through the Labour Protection Law granting the unions the freedom to act. Trade unions in Croatia were not developed, and even though they were granted rights by a government act, they still remained under the control of employers. As far as labour and union relationships were concerned, ambivalence within the labour force could be felt as well as the ambivalence within the union movement itself during the whole period between the two Wars. Division of the trade union organization into social-democratic, communist and nationalist unions disclosed many processes taking place in Europe at the same time. In the framework of the union movements and rising violence in everyday communication between the members of the opposing groups, one can learn about the movements happening in the wider area, within which the company as an organizational structure became more important than its former owners. A change from affirmative to negative attitude can be observed in the state’s treatment of large industrial companies owned by foreigners after the Great Depression. This deterioration can be seen in the company’s relationship with the nationalist unions, which were linked to the government.