Commercial workers in the Serb Republic negotiate their first collective agreement

FIET participates in Republican Committee meeting in Laktashi where the union confirms a continued project co-operation

The commercial workers of the Serb Republic are consolidating their trade union structures. At a meeting of their Republican Committee in Laktashi on 19 July, the trade union representatives could take note that regional trade union councils already covered some 60 per cent of the entity. Altogether 31 local organisations were already operating, of which 7 were in the Banja Luka region.

The Republican Committee of the commercial and tourism workers' trade union met in Laktashi in July to decide on further development of structures and activities. Bogdan Davidovic presided over the committee meeting, which Jan Furstenborg addressed on behalf of FIET. Alex Rüdig, the director of the FIET project in Bosnia and Herzegovina also participated in the meeting which welcomed the opportunities which the project offers for a continued reconstruction and development of trade union work.

Also the first collective agreement for commerce had been negotiated and the result was adopted by the Committee. The meeting, which focused largely on following up the union's June 1997 Congress, also decided to establish the offices of the commerce and tourism trade union in Laktashi, which is a small town in the western part of the Serb Republic, some 20 kilometres outside Banja Luka.

Bogdan Davidovic, the union's president stressed that the aim is to concentrate on everyday trade union business. Although he saw limited possibilities today to work jointly on a countrywide level covering the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina he said that space has been left for this in the union's statutes. Within the FIET project, the commercial workers from both entities continue to participate in joint activities and their membership in FIET is over the joint commercial workers trade union of Bosnia and Herzegovina, representing the whole country as defined by the Dayton Agreement.

The most urgent problems that union members face are extremely low wages, high unemployment and the inability of many employers to pay their workers. Those who have a job earn as little as 40 US Dollars a month whereas most prices are at normal European levels.

Within the FIET project, the commercial workers in the Serb Republic intend to arrange a series of local and regional courses to consolidate their structures and to activate trade union work in enterprises and localities. The first strike has already taken place in a commercial enterprise in Banja Luka which has neglected to pay wages to its workers.

The FIET trade union solidarity project in Bosnia and Herzegovina is large and concrete and it strongly supports the implementation of the civilian provisions of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Therefore it attracts much media attention in both entities. Here, Bogdan Davidovic answers to the questions posed by a Banja Luka television crew.

Speaking to the Republican Committee meeting, Jan Furstenborg of FIET underlined that the project for Bosnia and Herzegovina aims at supporting the commercial workers in reconstructing and developing their trade unions into efficient tools for achieving economic and social justice. He welcomed the commercial workers of both entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina as full members of the FIET family and assured the firm commitment of FIET and its affiliates to the project work that is being carried out in the country. He assured that commercial workers' representatives from both entities will be able to participate on equal terms in all FIET activities but that this will take place within the framework of a joint trade union even if it is not fully operational at this moment.

In the Serb Republic, FIET has established a project office in connection with the commerce trade union offices in Laktashi. The FIET project work in the Serb Republic are supported by the Nordic commercial workers' trade unions, with Sweden's Handels bearing a particular responsibility for the training activities.

The FIET Solidarity Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina

The FIET Commerce Home Page

Our e-mail address is: jan_furstenborg@fiet.org