State Police Growing Impatient: Council of Ministers to Discuss Salary Bases Tomorrow

(Patria) - The session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina is scheduled for tomorrow, and the proposed agenda includes the Draft Law on the Budget of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina and International Obligations of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2021, proposed by the Ministry of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Also to be considered is the Proposal for a Decision on the amount of the base for calculating salaries of employees in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina for 2021.

We remind that the Union of Police Organs Trade Unions in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been warning for some time that the deadline for adopting the Decision on the amount of the base for calculating salaries for 2021 has long expired and that its non-adoption creates uncertainty among employees in police agencies.

Dragan Krvavac, President of the Union of Police Organs Trade Unions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, warned that employees in police agencies are already working under extremely difficult conditions during this time of pandemic and migrant crisis. State police officers (Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, SIPA, DKPT) are still waiting regarding the increase of the base and the establishment of social dialogue.

The Ministry of Finance calculated the base at 498 KM in the framework budget, and this is some increase compared to the last nine years. Given the coronavirus pandemic and the reduction in VAT revenue, this is acceptable to the Trade Union.

Earlier, Ramo Rustemović from the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices also spoke out, after a meeting with the Trade Union of Police Organs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and their Union President Dragan Krvavac and the President of the SIPA Trade Union Edin Kahrimanović, and they took the following stance:

"We demand the return of the base to the amount of 535.00 KM, which has been reduced for more than ten years. There is no salary increase here, and no special financial resources are needed in the budget of the Council of Ministers, only to return what was taken and reduced. Salaries have increased for all employees at the entity and cantonal levels, while ours have been reduced. In this case, only political will and desire are needed to return what was taken; there are no formal-legal obstacles," said Rustemović.