Some 260,000 workers receive 650 Bosnian marks as monthly salary (some €325) while nearly 90,000 of them receive only 450 marks every month (approx. €225), Salvedin Satorovic, the head of the BiH Independent Trade Unions Association (SSSBiH) said on Saturday, May Day, adding that these are workers from the private sector.

According to him, the Federation (FBiH) entity is the only part of Europe without a defined minimum wage:

“This happened with the cancellation of the General Collective Agreement from 2018, which was unilaterally cancelled by the Association of Employers. The FBiH government has taken it upon itself to work in co-operation with the Economic and Social Council. The Government has not fulfilled that obligation for three years. The SSSBiH addressed the representatives and MPs in both houses of the FBiH Parliament, as responsible people who were directly elected.”

He pointed out that the Draft Law on the Minimum Wage was adjusted to the current epidemiological situation, without giving up the requirement that the minimum net wage be 1,000 Bosnian marks (some €500).

“It is often said that this is an unrealistic amount. We say that it absolutely is not. It was proven that there are funds that only need to be redirected in a different, fairer way. We don’t need debts in terms of paying salaries to too cumbersome and inefficient public administration. We want the authorities to stop paying for transportation to public servants and employees working from home, who were employed in that way to reduce the number of advisors. In this way, we can save huge funds for the increase of salaries in the public sector,” said Satorovic.

His message to the authorities is to start working for the lowest-paid workers, those in the heavy industry who are creating new values and to stop with only declarative support.

Miners and Metalworkers’ unions gathered on Saturday in Sarajevo over job insecurity and low wages, demanding that the authorities in Bosnia's FBiH entity protect them. Metalworker union even announced mass protest in 30 days, unless the government fulfils their basic demands.