Canton Sarajevo Government Already Factored Base of 400 KM into Budget, Canton Sarajevo Assembly Sits on March 28

(Patria) - The base for salary payments in the public sector from the Canton Sarajevo Budget for 2025 will amount to 400 KM and has already been factored into the Budget Proposal, which the Canton Sarajevo Assembly should consider on March 28, Patria learns.

Although meetings between Prime Minister Nihad Uk, several ministers, and the Union Coordination took place yesterday, the Union Coordination is expected to finally declare its position on the offered base of 400 KM today. As Patria learns, only the Union of Civil Servants and Employees is not satisfied with the base, but it will no longer be increased.

However, until last week, the Canton Sarajevo Government claimed there was no money for an increase in the base, which stood at 385 KM. After the Union Coordination announced protests and strikes, a way was found to increase the base.

Incidentally, the unions had been in talks for months with deputy clubs, which generally supported the base increase, but certain ministers strongly opposed it, led by the Minister of Education, Naida Hota-Muminović (NIP).

Following the agreement on the 400 KM base, the Canton Sarajevo Government is now sending the Budget and the Law on Budget Execution to the Canton Sarajevo Assembly, and the session should be held on Friday, March 28. The Canton Sarajevo Budget with this base increase exceeds 1.5 billion KM.

Around 16,000 workers who receive salaries from the Canton Sarajevo Budget will have higher pay in 2025, as well as an increase in allowances that do not have the character of a salary, whose payment is tied to the amount of the average salary in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As for workers in kindergartens and primary schools, a worker with no formal education will receive the most because the lowest salary will increase, so in 2025, they will have an average monthly income increase of over 200 KM, a worker with secondary education 80-90 KM, a worker with higher education 100-120 KM, a worker with university education 120-150 KM. By mid-year, this will be noticeably reflected on workers' pay slips.

By mid-year, the lowest (starting) salary in kindergartens and primary schools will exceed 1,200 KM, and the starting salary for workers with university education will exceed 1,800 KM.

Incidentally, as Patria reported on Sunday, the Canton Sarajevo Government has also prepared amendments to social protection, protection of civilian war victims, and protection of families with children. These amendments reduce maternity benefits in Sarajevo Canton and tie the calculation to the lowest salary in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which from January 2025 amounts to 1,000 KM. In the law still in force, the calculation was tied to the paid average salary in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which in January was over 1,400 KM.