Changes to the strike legislation, labour protection and collective agreements will be the priorities in the work of newly elected President of the Association of Independent Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Selvedin Satorovic, whose appointment was backed by the majority of the branch unions who attended the Sunday vote.

The trade unions’ association held an extraordinary convention on Sunday to elect the new leadership. The meeting was boycotted by several branch unions who claimed the convention was illegitimate.

“Our candidate didn't show up today in the convention as we believe it was held in an illegitimate way. That's the basic reason. Another reason is that we find it frivolous to send an invitation to someone a day before the convention is held,” said Mirza Hadziabdic of the Union of Independent Police Trade Union of FBiH.

The regular convention to elect the new leadership was scheduled for February this year when the now outgoing president's term was ending. Satorovic was running for the post along with Redzo Kuric, Chairman of the Supervisory Board in the Trade Union of the Forestry, Wood Processing and Paper. Due to the lack of quorum and rifts between the unions, the convention was postponed.

Sinan Husic, President of the Miners’ Trade Union, said they had then decided to take a distance from the membership in the Association of Independent Trade Unions and now they see this extraordinary convention as an attempt of the umbrella trade unions’ organisation “to form a new group on the trade unions’ stage.”

Upon his election, Satorovic only spoke about the goals in his forthcoming term. According to him, the organisation has already launched the activities towards the increase of the lowest labour price. They expect the authorities to back their plan.

“Our priority will also be the adoption of the law on bridging the years of service,” he added.

Bosnia's Association of Independent Trade Unions is a voluntary and interest organisation, founded by the branch trade unions from all parts of the country and it has 24 members. It is a social partner to the Government of FBiH, one of the two Bosnia's semi-autonomous entities, and to FBiH Association of Employers. It actively participates in the work of Economic-Social Council in this entity, which among other things monitors and proposes changes to the labour legislation, deals with the privatisation process’ implementation and proposes harmonisation of the pricing and wage policies.