The Association of Employers in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina appeals to the deputies of the House of Representatives of the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to first include and then adopt amendments to the FBiH Contributions Act and the FBiH Income Tax Act to the agenda of the session to be held on July 25 this year.
“Amendments to the aforementioned laws would enable a quick salary increase of up to 400 BAM for workers in the real sector, and this salary increase would not be paid in full, but significantly reduced contributions, while the salary obligations found at the time of entry into force of these amendments and supplements would remain in the full amount as before,” explained in a statement from UPFBiH.
In recent days, they add, they have noticed the statements of certain representatives that employers can increase workers’ wages even without these changes in the law.
“That is correct, the only thing that the representatives accidentally or intentionally forget and do not want to say is that with a salary increase of up to 400 BAM without these requested amendments, more than half, almost half of the funds from the increase go to the state, and the rest to the worker. By adopting the amendments to the law that we are proposing, workers would, for example, get about 350 BAM of the 400 BAM increased salary, and the state the rest,” according to the UPFBiH.
They emphasize that it is a temporary solution that would be in force until the adoption of a set of systemic laws that would reduce contributions to wages from the current 41.5 percent to less than 30 percent, but they have no information when it is planned to prepare and put into procedure a set of systemic regulations that would regulate these issues.
On the other hand, the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SSSBiH) issued a press release today stating that “the Association of Employers of FBiH (UPFBiH) does not have its support for any short-term solutions whose intention is questionable”.
“Considering that today and tomorrow the name SSSBiH will again be misused by UPFBiH with the aim of dissuading the public from having our support for the proposal on a short-term ‘increase in wages’ in the amount of 400 BAM, we inform the public, and above all the members of the trade union, all workers and representatives in the Federal Parliament, that the SSSBiH still stands by the request that the Federal Parliament adopt a reform set of tax laws as soon as possible, within the framework of which the law on the minimum wage in the amount of 1,000 BAM will be adopted . We do not support any short-term solutions whose intention is questionable,” the Union states.
At the same time, they note that they will never agree or support the fulfillment of the wish of “employers who until now paid a part of the workers’ salary in envelopes, thus deceiving both the state and the workers, to now pay that amount legally with a reduced contribution rate”.
