Salaries of police officers finally equalized with salaries of other civil servants!

At the session of the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH, among other things, amendments to the Law on Salaries and Benefits in the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina were discussed. Delegates first considered the proposal of the House of Representatives MP Šemsudin Mehmedović (SDA), who has advocated from the beginning the theory that police officers are disadvantaged given that the lowest coefficients for salary calculation were determined for them without pay grades.

The law passed unanimously.

By adopting the proposal for the correction of coefficients for police officers in the second reading, the long-standing discrimination in the calculation of salaries for police officers was eliminated.

With these amendments, Mehmedović proposed that coefficients for police officers from the rank of "police officer" to the rank of "chief inspector" be determined more fairly, i.e., that the coefficients of police officers be equalized with the coefficients of employees and civil servants.

Otherwise, for a long time, the Union of Trade Unions of Police Bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been seeking the correction of coefficients for fair salary calculation, which was supported by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdić and the Minister of Security of BiH Dragan Mektić, but the proposal from the Council of Ministers did not make it onto the agenda of the BiH Parliament.

Zdenka Džambas (HDZ), discussing this law, said that they had discussed how to find funds two months ago.

- We proposed all sorts of things, how to satisfy the police officers, and the president of the Union said at the committee that everything would go linearly, but that they differ among themselves. As a delegate of the Croat people, I say that I will vote for this law on behalf of the Croats working there. And it doesn't matter that we don't know how the budget will fare - Džambas said.

Dragutin Rodić (DNS) said that such amendments are justified.

- There would be nothing controversial if there were no financial problems. Working in the committee, it is clear that we tried to find solutions, but within the existing budgetary framework, it is not possible to find funds, and it will require 11 million. We also had a committee today and no one is against the law, but rather whether we are adopting something that is unfeasible - Rodić pointed out.

Sredoje Nović (SNSD) reproached the Union for not advocating more for the ordinary police officer and for not telling the management bodies that they cannot receive so much.

- Considering the status and the fact that they are below the level of civil servants, I must say that I will personally support this law, because I know what this structure means in BiH and they cannot work for 650 KM - Tadić said.

Ognjen Tadić (SDS) said that there is no need for them to act like guardian angels in front of the public and show excessive concern for the budget, because he is sure that the Council of Ministers will find a way.

- All police officers and inspectors should not feel grateful to us. We were just doing our job - Tadić added.