Novalić: Even Angela Merkel's government sets a minimum hourly wage, why wouldn't the FBiH government do the same?

New amendments to the Labour Law, adopted yesterday by the government of Fadil Novalić, have sparked a wave of criticism in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The political director of the Social Democratic Party (SDP BiH), Damir Mašić, told reporters during an emergency session that the government is once again derogating workers' rights.

Mašić said that the government has again amended a vital law without consulting experts. According to Mašić, the new amendments to the Labour Law will ban strikes, employers and unions will completely lose their purpose, and the government will make important decisions on its own, such as the minimum wage level.

On the other hand, Prime Minister Novalić does not believe that the new amendments to the Labour Law will harm workers in the slightest. He told reporters before the session of the FBiH Economic and Social Council, which began today in Sarajevo, that he can guarantee that workers' rights will not be curtailed by the new amended Labour Law. There will also be no reduction in wages.

- The entire essence of the efforts the government has been investing in recent days relates to simplifying business operations in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. We guarantee that no one's rights will be reduced, that no one's salary will be cut – said Novalić. He added that out of the entire world, it is precisely in the Federation of BiH that calculating a salary is the most difficult. The government wants to change such a practice.

- Our salary currently consists of nine items, relating to the employer's burden, the worker's burden... When you add it all up, you get the most complex salary to calculate; you have to be a nuclear physicist to calculate a salary in FBiH. It's no wonder that out of the entire world, only here in FBiH you have a company, that is, an agency that deals with salary calculation. That's a ridiculous thing; a salary should be calculated simply – said Novalić.

He dismissed criticisms that the government wants to take on the role of determining minimum wages. He said that no one should see that as a problem.

- The basic obligation of a government is to determine the minimum wage. You saw that Angela Merkel's government recently stated that the minimum hourly wage in Germany is 8 euros – Novalić stated. He said that the government he leads has also defined through the new amendments to the Labour Law that annual leave can be used no later than March of the following year, in order to avoid combining annual leaves.

- Some employees combine two annual leaves, holidays, and then they are absent from work for two and a half months – Novalić criticised, Patria reports.