The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bosnia and Herzegovina has launched intensive negotiations with the Employers' Association and the Government of the Federation of BiH within the Economic-Social Council, with the aim of drastically improving the position of workers.

The main union demand is to raise the lowest monthly wage to 1200 convertible marks, which is a significant jump compared to the current 1000 KM, writes N1. But even more importantly, the union insists on introducing clear pay grades, so that the earnings of workers with primary, secondary, higher, and university education are no longer equalized, which is a problem that has drastically worsened after the last increase in the minimum wage.

The president of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of BiH, Samir Kurtović, explained that the current equalization of wages has led to an absurd situation in which a worker with the lowest level of education received a large increase, while people with secondary and higher qualifications had only slightly higher earnings, which caused great dissatisfaction among the more educated workforce. The union therefore proposes establishing differences in wage amounts depending on the level of education, suggesting that the minimum wage in general should not be less than sixty to seventy percent of the average wage in the Federation. The final solution is expected through the formation of a special commission which, composed of representatives of all three social partners, will try to find an acceptable model.

However, employers, led by Safudin Čengić from the Economic-Social Council, are skeptical of the union proposals, emphasizing that wishes must be aligned with economic reality. Čengić warned that amounts should not be speculated about through the media, but that the solution must be based on exact indicators and the productivity of the overall economy. In doing so, he presented the information that a worker in Bosnia and Herzegovina, given the current way of working and product structure, contributes significantly less to gross domestic product than a worker in Croatia or Germany, and therefore there is no realistic basis for automatic wage growth without increasing exports and creating new value, emphasizing that wages cannot be distributed if they have not been earned.

The employers' position is also focused on the need to stop paying for non-work, especially in the public sector, recalling the situation during the pandemic when employees in that sector received full wages and all benefits even though they were not going to work, unlike the real sector. Employers believe that it is high time for a realistic approach and that the sustainability of every job must be taken into account, recalling cases from the region where unrealistic union insistence on increases led to company closures. Despite these warnings, the Union said that their role is to protect the rights of diligent workers, not those who do not work, concluding that they also expect the Government of the Federation to urgently continue with fiscal relief, because some employers did not redirect that amount to increasing workers' earnings even after the reduction of contributions, reports N1.