The protests of health workers in front of the Canton Sarajevo (CS) Government building have ended. Demonstrators booed the government, and during the protest, Izet Hocko, president of the union of doctors of medicine and dentistry in CS, addressed the audience.
Izet Hocko said that at the end of December 2022, all three unions of employees in the health sector sent a request to the Government of CS to proceed with the amendments to the collective agreement that was signed on April 28th last year. The government formed a negotiating team, then they started negotiations.
“We have entered September, something has to be done. Unions are fighting to save the healthcare system, which is greatly damaged. If we collapse the healthcare system, we collapse the state. Show that you are not fighting against unions and workers’ rights. So far, you have shown the opposite. It’s a lie that you are members of the union. You can put in your CV that you are good fighters against workers’ rights. We, as unions, have given up all other demands, we just want a correction of the net hourly wage that will align with the cost of living,” he said.
Hocko said that he was bringing greetings to the current Minister of Health and the government from Zenica. He said that 12 hours had passed and that they should have agreed in January, possibly in February, to save the citizens, to save people from going abroad.
“You are doing everything in order to run out of staff and to ruin the citizens of CS and the citizens of BiH. We have a message for the Prime Minister. You were wrongly informed. This morning you presented several incorrect data. It is not about increasing the coefficient, it is about correcting the net hourly rate. It is a lie that salaries were increased by 27 percent last year. You should have asked someone who will tell you the truth so that you can go public,” he said yesterday.
He also sent messages to the Minister of Health and the Government of CS.
“You can’t treat more than 8,000 employees in healthcare like that. You can’t play with us anymore. This is a clear message for you, but convey this message to those who will come after you. This kind of situation must never happen again. If it is true that you will not touch the current collective agreement, why did you form a negotiation team, why did we hold so many meetings?” he asked.
Hocko said that a meeting was held with the minister on Thursday where he accepted the hourly wage of 3.20 BAM and that it will be applied from September 1st.
“We, the three representatives of the trade union, signed those conclusions, we asked the minister to sign as well. He said that the signature means nothing to him, he keeps his word, his word is important to him. Minister, if you claim that your honor is important for you, go ahead and do what you need to do,” he told, Klix.ba reports.
Photo: archive
E.Dz.
