Train drivers from Republika Srpska (RS) are learning German in order to drive trains in Austria. At the same time, the railways in that Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) entity are looking for new workers, but also for a way to restore neglected railways and locomotives.
A train driver from Prijedor, a city in the northwest of BiH, Nebojsa Opacic, decided to leave the entity railway company after 22 years because of the higher salary on the Austrian railways.
In addition to Opacic, five other train drivers are planning to go to Austria, according to the Independent Trade Union of Traffic and Transport Activities of the Railways of the RS.
”They requested termination of the contract. They are going to work for a private railway operator in Austria. It is logical that they are leaving because of a better salary,” said the president of that union, Zlatko Marin.
A higher salary in a language course than in a locomotive
Train drivers will receive more money for learning German before going abroad than they can earn in the RS Railways.
The current salary of a train driver is between 550 and 600 euros.
”That is not the salary, but a total income with all allowances and night shifts.
They were given six months to learn the German language and for those six months, they will receive 750 euros per month. So, they will learn the language at home, they will have lectures in Prijedor, and later they will have higher salaries,” explained Zlatko Marin, Radio Slobodna Evropa writes.
E.Dz.
