BHRT Union: Workers haven't received two salaries, have no money for bills and loan payments

(Patria) - The Independent Union of Workers at BHRT once again calls on all competent and responsible institutions to urgently address the issue of financing the Public Broadcasting Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Workers of this company have still not received either of the two earned salaries, and despite this, they continue to work diligently and do not allow the public service program to stop. Workers have no money even for basic needs, and it is superfluous to even talk about unpaid bills and loan payments.

Although the Resolution on the Public Interest of the Functioning of the Public Radio-Television Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina was adopted by both houses of the Parliament of the Federation of BiH last week, thereby fulfilling the legal conditions for the unblocking of BHRT's accounts by the Tax Administration of FBiH, this has not been done immediately, and the workers are spending this day, like all previous days, waiting for the unblocking.

To make the absurdity of the situation even greater, the management of RTV Federation of BiH, although aware that BHRT's account is still blocked, yesterday transferred the collected RTV fee amount belonging to BHRT to BHRT's account, which would have been sufficient to pay one net salary to the workers. After that, the Tax Administration seized that money today due to the account blockade. The result of all this for BHRT workers is that even if the account is unblocked, there will be no money for our salaries, because it has been seized.

While thanking the Parliament of FBiH again for offering us a hand and a short-term way out of this situation by adopting the resolution, we cannot help but express our bitterness over the slowness of implementation and obstruction of the Resolution in practice.

The Independent Union of Workers at BHRT continues to work intensively on finding both an immediate and a long-term solution that would enable BHRT workers to work without interruption and receive their earned salaries. In this regard, intensive meetings are being held with representatives of institutions, political parties, and international institutions, in order to reach a long-term solution that should be in the interest of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The same state that has a stepmotherly attitude towards its public RTV service and silently watches as this pillar of the state and the existence of hundreds and hundreds of workers and their families collapses.

We demand that the Council of Ministers of BiH and the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH urgently engage in resolving this problem, and that the courts and prosecutor's offices urgently investigate the criminal responsibility of individuals who knowingly violate the Law on the Public RTV System and fail to fulfill their obligations.

We remind once again that Radiotelevizija Republike Srpske has been violating the aforementioned law since 2017 and is not transferring the corresponding part of the fee collected in the territory of that entity to BHRT. That amount is today over 63 million convertible marks. We only ask that the laws be equal for everyone, and that the shapers of policies and our destinies work according to the law and conscience and finally earn their considerable salaries. BHRT workers must no longer be hostages!