PROTEST FOLLOWS: Negotiations on Collective Agreement between Government and Union concluded, four demands of educators met

(Patria) - Negotiations on the Collective Agreement on amendments and supplements to the Collective Agreement for preschool education and primary education in Sarajevo Canton (hereinafter: the Collective Agreement), which began five months ago, at the level of the negotiating teams of the Government of Sarajevo Canton and the Independent Union of Primary Education of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Cantonal Committee of the Union of Primary Education of Sarajevo Canton (hereinafter: the Union) were successfully concluded on January 31, 2024.

Yesterday's meeting of the negotiating teams was the seventh and final one, lasting more than three hours. It is necessary that on February 1, 2024, the presidents of the negotiating teams technically harmonize the final text of the negotiated Collective Agreement, after which the Government of Sarajevo Canton and the Assembly of the Union's trustees must declare themselves on it.

If the Government of Sarajevo Canton adopts a Decision to give consent to the text of the Collective Agreement and authorizes the Prime Minister of Sarajevo Canton to sign the Collective Agreement on behalf of the Government of Sarajevo Canton, there will be no need to restart the procedure of negotiations on concluding a new collective agreement, which expires on April 30, 2024. This will automatically mean that out of the 12 demands of the Union, which were sought during the organization and implementation of the three-day warning strike and which are sought by the Decision on organizing and holding a protest rally under the motto "We demand education tailored to students and their teachers," four demands will be fully met (increase of coefficients for all workers by at least 10%, signed extension of the current Collective Agreement without reduction of acquired rights, increase of the lowest salary by 10% from January 1, 2024, and increase of salaries for non-teaching staff based on performance evaluation).

The remaining eight demands of the Union, except for the demand for equalizing salaries of workers in kindergartens and primary schools with salaries of workers at the Institute for the Development of Pre-University Education, which the Government of Sarajevo Canton cannot meet this year, will be subject to negotiations between the Government and/or the Ministry of Education of Sarajevo Canton and the Union.

The remaining seven demands on which the Union will continue to insist and seek negotiations to prevent the holding of a protest rally under the motto "We demand education tailored to students and their teachers" and a general strike are:

1. strict compliance with the law and the Collective Agreement,
2. that the Ministry of Education immediately stop jeopardizing the acquired rights of workers,
3. that administrative reforms that unnecessarily burden the work of kindergartens, schools, and workers, especially those in direct educational work with children/students, be immediately stopped,
4. that a new proposal for the text of Pedagogical Standards and Norms for primary education be prepared with the participation of Union representatives in the working group, and that the Government does not adopt them without the consent of the Union,
5. that aid be paid according to the decree of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
6. that education workers be granted the status of official persons, preferential length of service, and retirement under more favorable conditions, and
7. changes to outdated and extensive curricula, which implies reduction of teaching content, reduction of the number of compulsory subjects and compulsory teaching hours.

We remind you that, after the implemented three-day warning strike and after the Ministry of Education and the Government of Sarajevo Canton did not meet all the demands of the Union, the Cantonal Committee adopted a Decision on organizing and holding a protest rally on February 14, 2024, under the motto "We demand education tailored to students and their teachers."

Our struggle for the fulfillment of all Union demands continues according to the decisions of the Union bodies and the instructions received by union trustees.