Workers of the Public Broadcasting Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BHRT) continue to work without salaries or meal allowances. They claim they are left to fend for themselves. Members of the Independent Union of BHRT Workers have announced a warning protest for Tuesday, followed by the use of all legal means to assert their rights.

“Tomorrow will mark 50 days since we received our last paycheck, and we haven't received any meal allowances. The conditions are catastrophic; workers are working for miserable wages,” said Edis Foco, vice-president of the Independent Union of BHRT Workers.

Workers had been promised their earned wages by the end of this week, following a meeting between union representatives and members of the Committee on Transport and Communications of the House of Representatives of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina (PSBiH) last week.

“We demand that the minister solve the salary issue at BHRT within seven days, and legally find the funds so that people get paid, before the systematic solution, which will take a long time, because we found in the documents that the tax has not been paid correctly since 2008. Workers cannot wait for this systemic solution,” said Jasmin Imamovic, chairman of the Committee on Transport and Communications of the House of Representatives of the PSBiH, on May 21 of this year.

The urgency is underscored by the fact that, starting tomorrow, BHRT will cancel 15 programs, while others will be shortened. This is just the beginning, as more program cuts are expected soon. Additionally, BHRT is losing workers who do not want to work without pay.

“Because we are unable to pay workers even minimal wages, we have a massive outflow of people who can no longer endure this uncertainty and do not want to work for free. This was ordered by a recent temporary court measure when BHRT tried to withhold services from FTV to obtain money earned in the past six months. That decision required us to work for FTV for free, putting BHRT's survival in question,” said Belmin Karamehmedovic, general director of BHRT.

The Independent Union of BHRT Workers has pledged to do everything possible to protect employees using all lawful means.

“On Tuesday, May 28, at 2:00 PM, a warning protest is planned. We will see what the reactions will be, but we are really tired of verbal support, promises, and stories from politicians and the ruling structure. We need concrete actions because these people are on the brink of existence. Our immediate demand is for the payment of salaries and meal allowances,” emphasized Foco.

The list of 15 BHRT programs being canceled includes “Jedan,” “Odbrojavanje,” “Putevi zdravlja,” “Nova avantura,” domestic documentary programs, “Propuh,” “Thinking Box,” “Art Depo,” “Moja zemlja,” “DVS – Film Festival in Cannes,” “Identiteti,” “Global,” “Napokon petak sa Majom Miralem,” “Inbox,” and “Trend.” The show “Jutro za sve” will be reduced to two hours instead of three.

Funds from the collected tax remain in the account of EP BIH due to the lack of agreement between the two managements on the distribution of funds.