Police Union to the KS Government: If there is anyone serious enough there - support our proposal for the salary base to be 465 KM

(Patria) - The Union of Police Officers, Civil Servants, and Employees of Sarajevo Canton (KS) has submitted remarks, proposals, and suggestions to the KS Government and cantonal deputies on the Draft Budget of KS for 2026.

"In accordance with the Conclusion of the KS Assembly, and in relation to the adopted Draft Budget for 2026, which proposed a salary calculation base of 400 KM for KS employees, it is an understatement to say that we were surprised and taken aback by such a proposal, especially right before the end of the public debate, given that you have not offered any improvement or increase in the base.

The aforementioned action speaks to your insensitivity and lack of care for the position of employees in the public sector of Sarajevo Canton. Well, we can now say that you are also humiliating us.

We will remind you again that as of today, Sarajevo Canton has had the lowest base in the entire FBiH for over a year, that other, perhaps all cantons in the Federation, have paid a one-time financial allowance based on the Decision of the FBiH Government, including the FBiH Government itself, which you have never done (and we are stating this more than objectively), and that Sarajevo Canton employees are last in everything.

Regarding what you are disseminating/saying, or referring to the additional provisions in collective agreements that we receive a lot, we want to inform you, as there is a high possibility that you do not know, that other cantons also have signed collective agreements, that the agreements also stipulate salary supplements, that they are applied to their full capacity, but for your information, we are again - last.

When it comes to the Ministry where we honorably earn our salary, we want to emphasize that for many years the Police Administration has been operating at reduced capacity, currently with about 20% of police officers missing.

You have not, and apparently still do not, consider that police officers and other employees should be compensated, i.e., rewarded, for performing the duties of those who are absent because you are not employing them, and according to the law, they should have been employed and you should have continuously employed them.

Disciplinary proceedings against police officers who work for those who are absent are being conducted at full capacity because the employer draws from the current Labor Law what suits them, not the actual situation on the ground, which ultimately leads to a series of lawsuits by employees against the employer and, in the end, mandatory compensation of employees by the employer.

Similarly, as far as we know, employees who 'carry the load' and have fallen to the lowest rung are not faring any better, so you add a monetary amount, up to the guaranteed salary. Again, last. This statement refers to the scope and complexity of the work performed by all employees in KS - without exception.

Therefore, we propose that if there is someone serious and courageous enough there, with a long-term vision, and indeed with a statesmanlike attitude and thinking, to support our proposal that the salary calculation base for 2026 be at least 465 KM.

We also take this opportunity to greet our colleagues who are members (or not) of another police union in Sarajevo Canton, and to tell them frankly, without any reservations, that their silence on the current situation, by which they support their union representatives, who are already recognized by others in the public sphere as being in a kind of subservient relationship to the Government, is putting them, as well as us, or our members who have a different way of thinking and vision about improving their material status, in a stalemate.

And finally, we, who from the very beginning of our establishment have been active in a way that is expected of a true union that cares for its members (workers) and a union that works in their interest, perhaps we are not right after all.

Perhaps we, and all other cantons that have justifiably increased the salaries of their employees and mostly paid financial assistance of over 1,000 KM, paid vacation bonuses on time, approved the payment of holiday allowances, do not know anything, just like the economics experts who calculated that the consumer basket costs almost 3,500 KM.

So, following logic, perhaps all of this we have said is wrong, and by further applying logic, perhaps you are right and perhaps you are satisfied with the current situation, and that under these conditions there is no obstacle for the Government of Sarajevo Canton, with a reasonable explanation as to why it is not necessary to increase the salary base, not to increase it. All of this is perhaps.

And finally, besides the previously concluded 'perhaps', we must state that everywhere there is a billion, a billion, except in Sarajevo Canton. Although a large part of this text looks like satire, we are far from satire, but the government is likely far from reality," the KS Police Union stated.