Police Officers from Una-Sana Canton to Protest, Salaries Cut Despite Increasing Workload

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Representatives of the Una-Sana Canton (USK) Police Union have expressed dissatisfaction with the recent 10 percent salary reduction for police officers, and have already announced a peaceful protest gathering in Bihać for December 28.

- The salary was reduced by 10 percent, and this reduction was explained and justified by the provisions of the Collective Agreement. This is unacceptable to us, especially since the application of the Collective Agreement began 13 months ago, while our salaries were reduced a month and a half ago. It is also sad that such a decision was made at a time of increased workload for all police officers and enormous increases in the cost of living. We tried to talk to the responsible people, but the cantonal prime minister and the USK finance minister have no understanding or ignore all our calls and appeals to discuss possibilities for restoring the amount of personal income to what it was a month and a half ago - said the president of the USK Police Union, Mahmut Alagić.

It was also reiterated that the current base salary for police officers in the Una-Sana Canton is 295 KM, which is among the lowest in the Federation of BiH.

- The base salaries for police officers in some other cantons are 30 or 40 marks higher, while even what we have seems to be "too much" for them. In addition to all this, we have noticed long-standing errors in the calculation of salaries for years of service, and I think it is really high time that those responsible for all these irregularities finally answer - added Alagić.

Police officers in this part of BiH will express their dissatisfaction on December 28 with a peaceful protest gathering in Bihać. They announced that if there is no adequate response from members of the USK Government even after the peaceful protests, their activities will be directed towards implementing more rigorous measures in the fight for workers' rights, i.e., a general strike.