The coordination of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (SSS BiH) in Canton Sarajevo (CS) announced a “Protest rally of workers in front of the CS building” which will occur today and will express dissatisfaction because of the fact that the cantonal government did not plan to increase the base for calculating workers’ salaries in the draft budget for 2022.
This protest, as announced yesterday at the press conference, will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and the participation of 100 representatives of all unions is expected in order to comply with the epidemiological measures.
They mentioned that eight unions would organize a warning strike today, and if necessary a general strike in public institutions in the CS, primary secondary schools, preschools, universities, as well as cultural and scientific institutions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and organizational units of the Police Administration, institutes, civil service bodies, public utility companies, and public health institutions.
The President of the Coordination of Trade Unions, Faruk Beslic, noted that they can no longer tolerate ignorant attitude towards trade unions, calling on the CS Government, the Collegium, and the CS Assembly to withdraw the draft of the CS budget from the agenda of today‘s Assembly session, sincethe cantonal government did not conduct a dialogue.
Saudin Sivro, the president of the CS Union of Primary Education said that today he would ask the Government and all line ministries to respect legal procedures, collective agreements, conduct social dialogue, and negotiate with the unions.
The union representatives also stressed that they would demand that the salaries of communal workers be increased by 10 percent and that the CS government sign a collective agreement for the communal economy, as well as that health workers‘salaries be increased by setting coefficients and signing a collective agreement for the healthcare industry.
Even though the Coordination of Trade Unions represents about 25.000 workers, today‘s meeting will be attended by a hundredof them, and if that does not lead to the agreement, the unions will continue their activities, including the strike, and in that case, the measures determined by the epidemiological situation will no longer be taken into account.
It was pointed out at the press conference that a possible strike could have serious consequences.
E.Dz
