New Troubles: Salary Payments Begin, Banks Seize Debts, ZOI '84 Workers Again Without Money

Payment of back wages for over 100 workers of the Bosnian company ZOI '84 began on Wednesday, and workers who have been on strike since the summer of this year should decide today on returning to their workplaces, writes the Bosnian news agency Patria (NAP).

More than a hundred workers of the once-promising company have been on strike since the summer of this year, because the management owes them 14 salaries as well as contributions, due to which they have sought their rights several times by organizing peaceful demonstrations in front of the Sarajevo Canton Government building, and have called the acting Prime Minister of the Canton, Muhamed Kozadra, the killer of their basic human rights.

After months of negotiations with the Sarajevo Canton Government and the Company Management, the workers began receiving payment for 9.5 salaries on Wednesday, and workers and management will try to reach an agreement later for the payment of other debts. With the payment of part of the back wages, the collapse of the winter tourist season in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina was narrowly avoided.

However, some ZOI '84 workers were left without money even after the salary payments. Alija Hodžić, the president of the company's Union, explains that the workers are happy about the salary payments, but some of them are now facing new problems because banks are blocking their payments due to previous debts incurred at commercial banks.

- Workers were unable to repay loans they took out from banks before ZOI '84 fell into a difficult situation, so their debts accumulated. Now, when salary payments began, banks automatically withdrew their funds. Some workers are left with only 100 to 200 KM from their paid salaries - Hodžić told Patria and added:

- To survive, workers had to borrow from friends or relatives all this time, so they will have to cover those debts with part of the paid salaries.

Hodžić explains that they will try to talk to the banks and ask them to create a more favorable repayment program for ZOI '84 workers who have loans, and not to take their entire debts immediately.

Some banks, Hodžić says, have already shown readiness to help ZOI '84 workers, who have been on the brink of existence for several years.

ZOI '84 is a state-owned company that owns assets worth millions of KM, inherited after the end of the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo in 1984. However, the Sarajevo Canton authorities, who own ZOI '84, have brought this company to the brink of existence.

Part of the back wages was paid to the workers by taking out loans from commercial banks, writes NAP.