By the end of the year, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) should consider legislative changes that would make it mandatory to close retail stores on Sundays. Some believe that store owners want to deal with the labor shortage in this way and that the position of workers will not improve.
One of those who does not consider the proposed legal solution good is the representative in the House of Representatives of the FBiH Parliament, Admir Cavalic (SBiH).
In the interview, Cavalic said that the departure of the labor force from BiH led to large retail chains lobbying through the competent ministry to ban work one day a week.
“The ban refers to the operation of commercial facilities, not those businesses in general. This means that there is no guarantee that a worker will not work in a warehouse that day or perform some other job, which does not include a commercial facility,” points out Cavalic.
The workers, he says, have been hoping for years to get into a favorable negotiating position and fight for better labor rights and higher wages.
“We have come to this in some activities, such as trade, and instead of workers improving their rights in such a way that the Labor Law is respected, that overtime is paid, that a chair is provided for some cashiers, a toilet for those who work in newsagents, it is proposed to ban work on Sundays. I think it’s a regressive move, not a progressive one, which takes us backward. If the facility works six days instead of seven, that means less demand for workers, that is, smaller salaries,” explains Cavalic.
He states that the concept of a non-working Sunday is misrepresented.
After publicly criticizing this proposal on several occasions, he added that female workers contacted him and pointed out that they did not want their day off to be only on Sundays.
Certain scenarios are likely if the non-working Sunday comes to life at the level of the FBiH, Cavalic explains.
“We have employers, a small number of them, who violate the Labor Law, do not give workers a day off, do not give two days off, do not pay overtime. Those employers will continue to violate workers’ rights in the event of a ban on Sunday work. We have employers who already give a day off and they will continue to do so, but that day will be Sunday. And we certainly have the type of employers who will have benefits, such as gas stations and betting shops that will sell certain products and a greater number of workers will be transferred to these activities,” says Cavalic.
In the end, he mentioned that Hungary abolished the non-working Sunday after a year because the burden of work was shifted to six days and the workers worked until late at night on Saturdays so that everyone could do their shopping because shops are closed on Sundays, Klix.ba reports.
E.Dz.
