Young commerce and finance workers build trade union network in West Balkans

Young workers in the commerce and finance industries in the West Balkans are seriously taking on the challenge to organise their colleagues. At a UNI Commerce supported seminar in Sarajevo last week, commitments were made to continue building unions that can make real contributions to the lives of their young members.

Last week's youth seminar was held in the main meeting room of Sarajevo's trade union house, the Dom Sindikata. The room did not always look like this, in the late 1990's it was still more like a ruin. Renovating the building was in fact part of the project cooperation between UNI Commerce Global Union, HK Norway and the Sarajevo-based commerce and finance trade unions, and of course the Trade Union Confederation of Bosnia and Herzegovina itself. The Norwegian government supported the renovation project, as well as a range of other reconstruction activities after the war that devastated the country in the early 1990's.

The seminar participants did not close their eyes to the difficult challenges that unions face when trying to recruit young members. Youth unemployment is very high all through the region, and many young workers do not have confidence in trade unions, whose image was badly destroyed during the five decades of communist rule in these countries. There is much reluctance among them to take on active roles in their unions, even if they may be members, the seminar participants say in their conclusions.

Far from giving up, the young commerce and finance trade unionists want to step up their organising and union development work. Regional networking is an important element in their approach - we encounter the same obstacles in all countries, they say.

If given a chance, the young commerce and finance trade unionists in the West Balkans are highly creative and effective. In many of the region's unions, they already play a leading role, and spearhead a broader trade union development towards an integrated Europe. Here, the president of the host union has lent her office to a group deliberation during last week's successful seminar in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo.

The host union itself, the Commerce Trade Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, shows that results can be achieved. During ten years of project cooperation with UNI Commerce Global Union and its predecessor structure in FIET, the Sarajevo-based organisation has built up a considerable membership from nothing. All top union leaders are young themselves, as is the main part of the membership.

The success of this union shows that credibility can be achieved also when economic and social conditions do not allow for much material benefits to be gained from membership. Instead, the commerce union has been able to convince young workers that there is another kind of trade unionism than what was earlier known in these countries. With its modern European orientation, transparency, and dedication to help open up visions for a future in working life and family, the UNI Commerce affiliate has caught the imagination of large number of workers in its sector. This is remarkable when taking into account that unemployment touches almost the fifty per cent level.

Commerce and finance trade unions from the Nordic countries have been working with UNI Commerce in this region for the last ten years, supporting and developing trade union work in these two private services sectors. This support and cooperation continues, with particularly the Norwegian commerce trade union Handel og Kontor HK showing an extraordinary solidarity with the region's workers and their unions. But also other UNI affiliates are strongly engaged, among them the two supporters of last week's seminar in Sarajevo, Finland's Services Union United PAM and Sweden's finance union Finansförbundet.