The trade unions in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina are demanding an increase in the minimum wage to 700 marks and are announcing protests in September. The trade union, which considers Selvedin Satorovic as its president, demands that the minimum wage be one thousand marks. However, the Federal Government can’t seem to please anyone for now. They shift the responsibility to the Parliament.
The consumer basket in Bosnia and Herzegovina amounts to more than two and a half thousand marks. The minimum wage in the Federation is 543 marks, so the question is justified, what can someone do with that amount, and such wages are the highest in the country. The trade unions that consider Mevludin Bektic as president are asking employers and the Government to increase the minimum wage to 700 marks and, if their demand is not met, they will go out on protests in September.
“Due to the permanently low standard with low incomes, it is impossible to maintain a minimum subsistence level, especially for a four-member family or a family with one employee. It is practically an impossible mission,” says Mevludin Bektic from the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The government answered them today that it submitted a set of fiscal laws to the procedure and transferred the responsibility to the Parliament, as if some other majority was sitting there making decisions.
“We ourselves are surprised by the sluggishness and unwillingness of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH to put this issue on the agenda despite numerous urgencies from our side. Without a final discussion and decision by the Parliament of the Federation, it is not possible to reduce the tax burden on the salaries of workers in the Federation of BiH.”
700 marks is not acceptable for employers without legal solutions that will reduce contributions. Under the current conditions, the salary increase for some activities would be too high, and would lead to job losses, employers defend themselves.
“In principle, we had nothing against an extraordinary adjustment of minimum wages, but for it to finally happen by the end of the year or for changes in the law, this is what the government has been pushing for a long time. We are also of the opinion that rates and contributions should be reduced and that then make a new minimum,” says Adnan Smailbegovic from the FBiH Employers’ Association.
For the union that considers Selvedin Satorovic to be the president, the only existential solution is a minimum wage of 1,000 marks.
“And any insistence below that figure is not acceptable for us. We support every kind of trade union struggle, even from the trade union that accepted the shameful minimum wage of 540 BAM, and we expect them to correct their demands,” Satorovic points out.
As of June 1, the minimum wage in the Republika Srpska is 650 marks. If we know that the elections should be held in October, there is little chance that the Federal Parliament will be less sluggish and unwilling to put the set of fiscal laws, as the Government says, on the agenda.
