BHRT UNION'S PLEA: We are facing closure, no salaries, account blocked

(SARAJevo) - The Management Board of the Independent Union of Workers at BHRT has issued a public statement stating that BHRT's account is blocked and demanding accountability from everyone for the current situation in the Public Broadcasting Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Some are silently watching as BHRT has been systematically destroyed for years and decades by the same forces that are systematically destroying the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Some publicly support us and want to help, but have been powerless so far. As the representative union of workers at the Radio Television of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we appeal to all of you not to allow the closure of BHRT and more than 800 jobs across Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The workers of this company are on the brink of existence. The company's account is blocked due to unpaid taxes and contributions. We have not received our earned salaries, and in a few days, we will earn a second one. Our workers cannot pay loans, bills, or basic living expenses. The situation is even more dramatic for families where both spouses work at BHRT, who are now completely without income. Our future is uncertain. The survival of BHRT is also uncertain, which has been made one of the 14 priorities for this negligent state to fulfill on its path to European Union membership. The state is not dealing with this priority at all, and is persistently ignoring the obligation to ensure stable financing of public services in BiH.

Radio Television of Republika Srpska is illegally withholding money belonging to BHRT in its accounts. This debt has exceeded 63,000,000 KM. Despite undeniable evidence in favor of BHRT, the District Court in Banja Luka is ruling in favor of RTRS in lawsuits based on these claims. In this way, we workers are being denied everything we have diligently and honestly earned, and which legally belongs to our company. This money would be more than enough to cover all of BHRT's debts and provide our viewers with higher quality programming. We hereby demand that the courts and prosecutor's offices determine the responsibility of all those who have brought BHRT into this situation.

The attitude of the deputies in the State Parliament towards the state-level public service is shameful. We remind you that the State Parliament is the founder of BHRT. They are persistently dividing us by force along ethno-national lines and counting the bloodlines of workers in an attempt to dismantle almost 77 years of tradition of this company.

They are creating artificial crises, calling for bankruptcy, closure, and non-payment of the RTV tax, which is a legal obligation. Or they remain silent about all of it. We are not interested in political bickering and Management Boards. Replace them if they are not doing their job. The obstructions do not end there. Due to the never-completed digitalization process led by the Ministry of Transport and Communications of BiH, which has approved and secured funds for digitalization in the amount of 34 million KM in its account, we have reached a situation where, by decisions of the Communications Regulatory Agency of BiH (RAK), we have turned off the main TV transmitters for re-broadcasting the analog signal of BHT and FTV. We are, therefore, already invisible in some parts of our homeland.

Our workers continue to report from all events. They produce programs and strive to remain professionals to the end despite the terrible working conditions and the impossibility of going to the field, because there is no money for daily allowances. Even when there was money, the working conditions were poor, because salaries at BHRT are low, and life in BiH is increasingly expensive. We were and remain professionals, even in the hardest years of the nineties. We will remain so in the 2020s.

However, if this situation continues, the Union, due to the increasing dissatisfaction of its members, will call for workers' disobedience, strikes, and public protests, stand with the workers, and do everything in our power to fight for our rights. It is not excluded that we might even be preempted by the disconnection of electricity, internet, water, gas... because the company is unable to pay its bills.

Those well-informed know what it means if BHRT stops working. It will jeopardize not only our work but also the work of Federal Television, several telecom operators, the Agency for Identification Documents, Elections and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina (IDDEA)...

Due to all of the above, we call on all political parties that constantly emphasize that Bosnia and Herzegovina is their priority, to finally support us and put pressure on the responsible parties to do their job in accordance with the law, ensure the unimpeded financing of the Public Broadcasting Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and secure the realization of our basic rights for us workers.

We also call on representatives of international organizations, the European Union Delegation in our country, foreign embassies... to understand the magnitude of the problem of endangering the public media service in a European country, and to do everything in their power to ensure that domestic authorities finally resolve the issue of stable financing of public services in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. To conclude this letter, we repeat the sentence we stated at the last warning protest:

"The workers of this company must not be collateral damage of political games, and the closure of the Public Broadcasting Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina must not be an option!"