UNIONS AWAIT GOVERNMENT Will salaries rise in the public sector of Sarajevo Canton: FBiH Government paved the way by increasing the base

(Patria) - With the adoption of the FBiH Budget in both houses of the FBiH Parliament, which already includes the new base of 480 KM for calculating salaries in the public sector of FBiH, salaries will increase by 13 percent. Implementation begins after the publication of the Budget and the Law on Budget Execution in the Official Gazette of FBiH. For the salary increase of employees whose salaries are calculated according to the Law on Salaries and Allowances in FBiH Government Bodies, slightly less than 9,000 employees will receive an additional allocation of over 40 million KM.

The increase in the base came through an agreement and Accord between the Federal Government and the Independent Union of Civil Servants and Employees in State Bodies, the Judiciary, and Public Institutions in FBiH.

"We had exceptional social dialogue with the Government of the Federation of BiH, and we managed to align the base of 480 KM and the point value of 1.00 KM with the Law on Salaries and Allowances in FBiH Government Bodies and the FBiH Collective Agreement. This base and the alignment of salaries with the increase in the consumer price index send a clear message to cantonal governments, cities, and municipalities, as well as public institutions, to align it with the union through quality social dialogue," stated Union President Samir Kurtović.

However, this now raises the question of how the Government of Sarajevo Canton will proceed, which has so far frozen negotiations with the unions. After the adoption of the Draft Budget of Sarajevo Canton for 2025 in the amount of 1,478,010,805 KM, the Proposed Budget has still not been adopted by the Sarajevo Canton Government nor submitted to the Sarajevo Canton Assembly.

The Union Coordination, represented by eight unions, has still not received an invitation to a meeting with Sarajevo Canton Prime Minister Nihad Uk to establish a new base for salary calculation. The current base is 385 KM, and the Coordination's request is to increase it to 425 KM due to the rise in the cost of living and the increase in the minimum wage from 619 to 1,000 KM.

The Coordination of these unions represents the interests of over 16,000 employees in the public sector of Sarajevo Canton, among which the largest are the Union of Primary Education and the Union of Healthcare Workers.

The Union Coordination already organized protests in front of the Sarajevo Canton Government at the end of November 2024, and if no agreement is reached, mass protests and strikes are not ruled out.

The unions have received general support from all parliamentary clubs in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly for increasing the base, but there is still no final decision or negotiations.