Despite being at the frontline since the beginning of the pandemic, working conditions for sales workers have only gotten worse, head of the Trade and Services Union Mersiha Besirovic told N1 on Thursday, citing pay cuts, lack of understanding from employees, customers and the authorities as just some of the reasons for their discontent.

“Five or six years ago, we had a situation where 700 people applied for one job in the store, who applied every day for different jobs. We came to the situation that due to the mass departure of labour in this sector, the rule ‘If you don't want to work, there's always someone else to replace you’ no longer works, so it's now harder to find workers, but this pandemic took us three steps back,” she stressed.

After the lockdown, some things began to improve and the average monthly salary in the sector returned to the pre-pandemic level – 650 Bosnian marks (approx. €370).

“We've had some benefits that are non-taxable and are an essential part of the income of workers in this sector. We don't have those fees now. The minimum wage paid in this sector is 420 marks (some €210), fortunately, there are not many such workers. Nevertheless, there is a lot of undeclared work. Workers receive a minimum wage and the rest in an envelope,” said Besirovic.

She noted that most workers are taking loans to get by from paycheck to paycheck and that the raise to 750 marks (some €360) is still not enough to cover the costs of an average family, but that raise would significantly improve their living standard.

According to Besirovic, this sector may be the least paid in the world but the pandemic showed just how essential they are for the economy, and that the entire world would suffer without them.