SZNO (Stalnija-Zelezhna Novi Otonik, English: Steel and Iron of Novi Otonik) is a Kresimirian trade union headquartered in Novi Otonik, focusing on steel and ironworks. It is a regulated and permitted union under the constitution, which forbids non-sanctioned trade unions from operating.
It was founded in 1956, coinciding with the increasing industrialisation of the Kresimirian economy, especially in Novi Otonik and the surrounding eastern towns.
Since the 1990s, it has expanded its operations from Kakerovecska to nearby Districts Moskiprovac, Severnivaraje, and Pologradska.
Operations
The union is headquartered in the Palace of Labor in Novi Otonik, a monumental Brutalist structure built during the Sanjakorin era. While its influence has waned with the rise of the service economy, it remains a potent symbol of the city’s industrial heritage.
For its first three decades, SZNO operated as a semi-legal “guild” under constant threat of state suppression. Its status was formalized only after the passage of the 1983 Workers Rights Act, championed by former SZNO organizer Ljubo Sanjakorin. The Act allowed the union to openly recruit and launch the massive strikes of the mid-1980s.
Possibly the most well-known member of SZNO is Ljubo Sanjakorin, leader of Blue Dawn from 1982 to 2002. Sanjakorin refused to quit his union membership when elected as a Senator in 1979, something that then-Chair of the Assembly Ante Brov supported and defended. Under pressure from Chancellor Kresimirovic III, Sanjakorin later left the union in 1984, but under his leadership Blue Dawn nevertheless implemented many worker-friendly policies, and SZNO remained strongly aligned with Sanjakorin throughout his tenure.