Union calls on Hota-Muminović to suggest to high school principals that they hire those who have already worked for the same positions

(Patria) - The Union of Secondary and Higher Education, Upbringing, Science and Culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina - Sarajevo Cantonal Committee sent a letter to the Minister of Education of Sarajevo Canton Naida Hota Muminović, which they called a call for fair action.

We are forwarding the Union's letter in its entirety:

"We cannot but address you at this moment, which is very important for a large number of educational workers and members of our Union, because they have found themselves in uncertainty and a very awkward situation, solely due to your decisions that the care of workers and the announcement of competitions for hiring workers were not held within the deadlines set by the rulebook.

By deciding that there will be no public competitions until the start of the new school year, a large number of high school workers in the upcoming school year, after three consecutive years of work and at least three, for no one pleasant, competitions, acquire the right for their fixed-term employment contract to grow into an indefinite-term contract. Your decisions have put them in a situation where this could be jeopardized, because their engagement, and their fate, will be in the hands of school principals, who will decide who to hire at the beginning of the school year. This is certainly not a 'society of equal opportunities' that you declaratively advocate for. In case principals do not hire workers who are already working, and have been doing so for more than two years in those positions until the completion of the competition, for which it is still unknown when it will be held and according to which they would probably be top-ranked, they will create a break in their work longer than 60 days and thus their dreams of an indefinite-term employment contract will be shattered. In making that decision, you are also putting principals in a situation of possible great pressure on them from other interested parties.

You are well aware that in recent years we have been faced with a large number of our teachers leaving the education system, going abroad or to other better-paid activities. A significant number of our colleagues, who worked in schools, are leaving our homeland BiH with their work experience, which is becoming a very serious and irreparable problem. With starting salaries, which are still below the cantonal average, many young people do not want to be educational workers, but the security provided by an indefinite-term contract is something that still ties quality staff to schools.

Therefore, we call on you, in the current situation without competitions, to use your authority and, in accordance with your competencies, suggest to high school principals that they hire our colleagues who have worked so far and who were hired through a public competition in the current school year until the completion of the upcoming competition procedure," the letter states.