Željko Veselinović (; born 1974) is a

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

n union leader and politician who is currently the president of the

United Trade Unions of Serbia "Sloga" The United Trade Unions of Serbia "Sloga" ( sr-cyrl, Удружени синдикати Србије „Слога”, Udruženi sindikati Srbije „Sloga”, USS Sloga) is a trade union and a left-wing political organisation in Serbia. It was ...

. He was one of the founders of the

Alliance for Serbia The Alliance for Serbia ( sr, Савез за Србију, Savez za Srbiju) was a major extra-parliamentary catch-all opposition alliance of political parties in Serbia that was founded in September 2018. The alliance boycotted the 2020 parlia ...

which dissolved in 2020 and transformed into the

United Opposition of Serbia The United Opposition of Serbia ( sr, Удружена опозиција Србије, Udružena opozicija Srbije, UOPS) was a political coalition in Serbia. It was formed in August 2020 as the direct successor of Alliance for Serbia (SzS). ...

Early life and career

Veselinović was born in 1974 in

Smederevo Smederevo ( sr-Cyrl, Смедерево, ) is a city and the administrative center of the Podunavlje District in eastern Serbia. It is situated on the right bank of the Danube, about downstream of the Serbian capital, Belgrade. According to ...

. He has a degree in economics. He started working as a trade unionist at the end of 2000 in the then Smederevo Sartid. In 2003, he was elected the youngest union president in the history of the factory. Five years later, he founded "Sloga" and became its second president. He served as Bojan Pajtić's advisor for labor relations and socio-economic issues, at the time when Pajtić was leading the Government of AP Vojvodina. As it is pointed out in his official biography: "One of the few people who in his career went through all instances from the shift commissioner in the factory to the president of the national union." He led and organized several strikes and protests, and is a member of the network of trade unionists at the European Left and the European Social Forum. It was speculated that he would run for the presidency of Serbia in

2017 elections The following elections occurred in 2017. Africa * 2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017 *2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017 * 2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017 *2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017 *2 ...

, but he did not do that as he decided to endorse Vuk Jeremić. In 2018, a new opposition

was formed and Veselinović's "Sloga" was one of the founding members. Veselinović was also the first chairman of the alliance. He is a member of the City Assembly of Belgrade. The alliance was dissolved in August 2020 and transformed into the

. In an interview to Danas, he said that he thinks that unions should be more involved in politics.

Personal life

He speaks English. He is married and has two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Veselinovic, Zeljko 1974 births Living people Politicians from Smederevo Serbian trade unionists