As of March 1 this year, about 8,200 employees in seven mines of “Elektroprivreda BiH” will receive a higher salary based on the new Collective Agreement, which is the result of an agreement between the representatives of this state-owned company, the Trade Union and the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina Ministry of Energy.
The management of Elektroprivreda BiH, a month ago, approved the increase of the hourly rate for miners from 2.50 to 2.70 BAM, which created all the conditions for the salary to be higher by eight percent, which was also a condition of the miners.
Depending on the length of service, miners will receive up to 120 BAM on average. Senad Sarajlic, executive director for production of Elektroprivreda BiH, who led the negotiations with the union, told Avaz news portal that the Collective Agreement was initialed last week and that everything would be completed in ten days.
“We sent everything to the Federal Government, which is in session on Thursday. Now only their consent is awaited. We with the Union have already initialed everything and signed it. The contract enters into force on March 1st. I am glad that we have successfully completed everything,” says Sarajlic.
It was agreed earlier that these wage funds, which required 15 million BAM annually, should be secured from the ordered reorganization of the mine, not from an increase in the price of coal.
An increase in the price of coal would lead to an increase in electricity prices, which the EPBiH and the Government rejected through negotiations. The reorganization plan, as we wrote, showed that there are more than 2,500 workers in the EPBiH Group. Mostly, these are administrative workers. But there are also a number of miners.
