FIET Commerce
FIET Central and Eastern Europe
16 November, 1997
The FIET solidarity project
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
FIET Commerce FIET Central and Eastern Europe 16 November, 1997 |
The FIET solidarity project in Bosnia and Herzegovina |
In a letter to Mr Carlos Westendorp, FIET has protested against the action taken by Croatian authorities to refuse entry to Vesna Kliska, a young trade unionist who works as project secretary in Laktashi in the Serb Republic for the FIET project in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On her way to a FIET Youth Conference in Cyprus, together with two young colleagues from Sarajevo, she was refused transit entry to Croatia by the Zagreb airport police.
FIET's Croatian commerce affiliate made big efforts to help the three young colleagues from Bosnia and Herzegovina continue their planned trip to Cyprus, but without results. Thus, Vesna was held at the airport overnight, refused the right to communicate with her two colleagues who had been let into Croatia, and then returned to Sarajevo with the first morning flight. Fikret Plivcic, who is organising secretary of the Independent Commercial Workers' Trade Union in Sarajevo and Emina Krlic, who accompanied the two young unionists as an interpreter, decided to cancel their participation in the Cyprus event and return to Sarajevo, to show their solidarity with Vesna. Apparently, she was refused entry only because her place of residence in Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the Serb Republic.
Vesna Kliska, who is 24, travelled with a valid Bosnia and Herzegovina passport and her detention and expulsion from Croatia was totally unwarranted, FIET says in the complaint to the High Representative, and asks him to intervene with the Croatian government so that such incidents can be avoided in the future. Croatia is a signatory of the Dayton Peace Agreement.
Norway's social partners in commerce have equipped the women's house in Mostar with 15 computers. They will be used for training unemployed and working women in computer skills. The women's house - or Swiss House - is the result of the work of Hannelore Rücker and the Swiss labour movement's solidarity organisation, Schweitzerische Arbeiter- und Arbeiterinnenhilfswerke. It is a beautifully restored small building in the centre of Mostar's historic old town, with various facilities serving the women of this region.
The first course in the computer class of Swiss House started on 17 November. Five of the computers are new Pentiums and were bought locally whereas the remaining ten slightly used computers have been transported from Oslo to Mostar by the Norwegian military authorities and the Norwegian people's Aid. The computers have been donated as part of FIET's project in Bosnia and Herzegovina by our affiliate Handel og Kontor HK and the Norwegian service and commerce employer's association.
The Danish project with the Economics School of Sarajevo is now confirmed
FIET's initiative opens up new visions of social dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina
| The school building is now being renovated by the government. A new roof was laid early November and the whole renovation will be completed by February next year. From there, the Danish social partners will take over, in co-operation with FIET. |  |
The Danish social partners in commerce will furnish and equip the Economics School of Sarajevo. Last week, a decision was made to start a pilot project in this respect as soon as possible. An important part of the project will also be to help the school adapt its curriculum to the challenges of the country's new market economy. The project was initiated by FIET earlier this year.
In Sarajevo, the renovation of the badly damaged school building is now going on. The work is to be completed in February 1998 and the first students are expected to start in the new facilities next autumn. The role of the Danish project, which has been initiated and planned in close co-operation with FIET, is to help making the Economics School fully operational. This will comprise both material support for furnishing and equipping the institution and consultancy and training assistance to develop the curriculum and teaching.
The pilot project for 1998 aims at bringing in the basic elements to enable the Economics School to start using its new facilities. The twenty-classroom institution in central Sarajevo was right on the front line and was therefore badly destroyed. During and after the war, the Economics School has been compelled to use rented facilities which have not been suitable for its needs.
An important aim of the Economics School project is to promote social dialogue and a participation of the social partners in the vocational training system in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Connected with project preparations, a highly successful tripartite meeting on vocational training in commerce was held in Mostar on 1 - 2 October. Supported by FIET and the Danish social partners in commerce, the meeting brought together employers, trade unionists and government officials to talk about how vocational training can be adapted to the needs of both enterprises and the future employees themselves.
This large project is supported by FIET-affiliated commerce trade union HK Handel and the Danish commerce employers' Dansk Handel & Service, which is a member of EuroCommerce. The FIET project office in Sarajevo will be closely involved in the implementation of the pilot project. It is expected that if the pilot project is successful, it can be followed up by a continuation in 1999.
Fuad Sahacic continues to lead the Finance Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Fuad Sahacic continues as president of the FIET-affiliated Finance Workers' Trade Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the union's first post-war Congress in Sarajevo on 15 September, he was uncontested for the presidency of this union which represents bank and insurance workers and the employees of the state lottery.
Like in other sectors, the finance workers are practically split into two trade union structures.. A finance workers' trade union has been established earlier this year in Banja Luka in the Serb Republic. Under FIET's auspices, finance union leaders from the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have met on a number of occasions and agreed on joint project activities. In October, Fuad Sahacic and the president of the finance workers in the Serb Republic Kovilka Filipovic participated in a conference for finance workers' trade unions, in Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by FIET-affiliated bank workers' union OTOE.
The Nordic Bank Workers' Federation NBU is now considering to start project activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Like in the commerce sector, these activities would comprise both joint events bringing together participants from both entities and support projects on different levels both in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and in the Serb Republic.
During a mission to Sarajevo in November, Jan Furstenborg of FIET held extensive discussions with Fuad Sahacic about the situation in his union and about its need for support from FIET. A particularly urgent issue is that of the imminent privatisation of banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The government plans to sell off the state owned banks, which makes the bank employees concerned about their futures as no guarantees have yet been given that they would get their share of the privatisation benefits. Another issue which the finance workers' union is dealing with at present is that of unionisation of the Central Bank staff.
At the first Independent Trade Union Confederation congress since the war, Suleiman Hrle was re-elected as president by the two hundred delegates representing all branch unions. The Congress was held in the war-damaged trade union house of Sarajevo, the Dom Sindikata. FIET was invited to participate in this important meeting and was represented by Alex Rüdig, the FIET Project Director for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Geoff Walker, Senior Consultant to FIET Commerce. Speaking on behalf of FIET, Geoff Walker thanked the Suleiman Hrle and the Confederation for the important support given to the two FIET affiliates and to FIET's project structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Kenth Pettersson, president of the Swedish FIET-affiliated commercial workers' union Handels participated as a resource person in a trade union course in Laktashi, the Serb Republic during the last days of October. The course that was part of FIET's extensive project activities in Bosnia and Herzegovina brough together participants from all parts of the entity. It focused on organisational and collective bargaining issues, which Kenth Pettersson addressed also in his capacity of president of Euro-FIET Commerce. The course will be followed up by local activities, supported by Handels within the FIET project in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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A FIET flag was among the things that were moved to the new office. Here, it is being unfolded by the commerce and finance union presidents Hasan Kovac and Fuad Sahacic, assisted by Mersiha Besirovic, FIET project secretary. |
The Independent Commerce Trade Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina moved into new offices in Dom Sindikata in Sarajevo in the beginning of November. The union now has two rooms, newly renovated with FIET assistance. This is a major improvement compared with the earlier situation, when the three union employees shared a single worn-down 16 square metre office with FIET's two project employees. A third office room has been promised to the union, which will be put at FIET's disposal as a project office.
The trade union house in Sarajevo is still in poor condition, even if some basic renovation has been done. Particularly the Norwegian trade union confederation LO has supported the renovation efforts. FIET has consulted both with the trade union confederation and with the Norwegian unions about possibilities to continue the necessary work on the building. As the heating system has now been renewed, electricity and water are now the most urgent priorities, aside of a more general renovation of surfaces both outside and inside the building.
FIET has also tried to find partners for the trade unions in Mostar, who urgently would need to repair the roof of their building which was destroyed by several grenade hits during the war. If the roof is not repaired very soon, the building will be even more seriously damaged or even completely destroyed.
The FIET Solidarity Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Our e-mail address is: jan_furstenborg@fiet.org