The impossibility of certifying medical records in the Kakanj Brown Coal Mine in Kakanj (RMU Kakanj) caused a complete stoppage of work, which causes enormous damage to the energy sector in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) and RMU Kakanj, the President of the Management Board of the Independent Union of Mine Workers FBiH (UOSSRRFBiH) Sinan Husić points out in his reaction.
Husić referred to the outcome of the meeting held yesterday in the building of the Public Enterprise Elektroprivreda BiH d.d. Sarajevo, where current problems in RMU Kakanj, RMU Breza and RMU Zenica were analyzed, and related to the health insurance of the workers of the aforementioned mines.
“The solution must be sought in realistically possible dimensions, no matter how it sounds to whom. To produce an interruption of the mining works in RMU Breza means introducing that mine into the initial phase of closure. In the past 25 months, enormous efforts were made to save the equipment of a wide mechanized face in the facility with underground coal mining in Breza, and today we can say that the workers of Breza succeeded and saved the equipment from complete devastation,” Husić points out.
He reminds that in the mentioned period of time, through social dialogue with the management of JP EPBiH, the UOSSRRFBiH provided Breza with support of over 20 million KM, in order to ensure regular payment of salaries and to avoid interruptions in the performance of mining works.
“Enormous efforts have been made to ensure the continuity of coal production and to increase electricity production in FBiH in July 2026. The institutions and agencies that follow the above in the presentation of indicators state that the production of electricity from thermal power plants dominates. We testify that due to the weather conditions in one part of the region and the European Union, they present indicators according to which these parts of the region and the EU are in the initial phase of energy collapse. UOSSRRFBiH is, in act number 54-08/26, dated August 3, 2026, showed a high level of correctness and respect for the Health Insurance Institute of the Zenica Doboj Canton. There is no need to send messages to workers in coal mines in FBiH that health workers will be placed against miners,” says Husić.
He underlines how the miners lost 611 lives in the defense of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only to clash with workers from other areas in the state they were fighting for.
“It is known that we have always been ready to show respect and appreciation for others, and this especially applies to healthcare workers,” says Husić.
He states that the state was forced, for the sake of favorable electricity prices for the economy and households in FBiH, for the past 25 years, through the price of coal delivered to JPEPBIH and “through, to put it mildly, debatable methods of determining the calorific value of that coal”, to cause enormous damage to coal mines in FBiH.
“If we were to focus on specific examples from the region, it can be seen that certain mining facilities are on the state budget, and even today the production of coal from certain mining facilities is subsidized to the tune of millions in EU currency. UOSSRRFBiH emphasizes the fact that through social dialogue with representatives of the Federal Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry, in the previous 26 months, it provided financial support to RMU Zenica, in the amount of over 18 million KM. At the same time, financial support was provided for RMU Zenica from JPEPBiH and from the coal mines of the Concern, in the amount of over 11 million KM”, reminds Husić.
UOSSRRFBiH, he adds, does not dispute the complexity of the situation in which ZZO ZDK finds itself and does not condone omissions in the mines, but it is certain that the situation on the ground in the current circumstances will escalate and produce numerous unwanted phenomena.
“That is why we call for the workers and families of the miners of RMU Kakanj, Breza and Zenica to be urgently provided with the possibility of using health benefits, and thus the conditions for starting the production process in RMU Kakanj will be ensured”, says Husić, who says that solutions that are realistic and possible at this moment must be sought.
The miners of Kakanj, due to the inability to certify their health cards, went on strike yesterday in the first shift, Fena writes.
