FIET Commerce
FIET Central and Eastern Europe
4 April 1998
The FIET solidarity project
in Bosnia and Herzegovina
FIET Commerce FIET Central and Eastern Europe 4 April 1998 |
The FIET solidarity project in Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Nerma's story and satellite link with Sarajevo highlights at Cardiff meetings
The FIET trade union solidarity project in Bosnia and Herzegovina was warmly welcomed by the almost one thousand trade union leaders that participated in the Euro-FIET and Euro-FIET Commerce Conferences in Cardiff, United Kingdom at the end of March. Speeches by trade union leaders from Bosnia and Herzegovina were illustrated by a FIET video where Nerma Arnautovic, a young employee of the commerce trade union in Sarajevo, tells about her war-time experiences. Her frank and open story was followed up through a direct satellite television link between Cardiff and Sarajevo, which allowed Conference participants to ask questions about FIET's work in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Nerma and other unionists.
With Suleiman Hrle, President of the Independent Trade Union Confederation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bogdan Davidovic, President of the Commerce and Tourism Trade Union of the Serb Republic as speakers, the Euro-FIET Conference manifested its strong solidarity with the workers and their unions in BiH and other parts of the region. Two other trade union presidents from Bosnia and Herzegovina were also present and made interventions in other contexts, Hasan Kovac of the Independent Commerce Trade Union and Fuad Sahacic of the Finance Trade Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
FIET's massive involvement in support of the Dayton peace process and in building a new co-operation between different population groups was welcomed by delegates, with many unions expressing their intentions to take an active part in the projects. Sture Arntzen of HK Norway, who is president of the international project committee, announced new initiatives in support of FIET-affiliates and co-operating unions in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro. Alex Rüdig, the FIET project director who is stationed in Sarajevo, told both Conferences about the work that she is doing with her young colleagues in the project offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina and received a massive support of the FIET family present in Cardiff.
In a number of follow up meetings with individual affiliates, the FIET project organisation could set up a plan which will both expand and intensify activities.
The video where Alex Rüdig talks with Nerma about her experiences is available for free for FIET affiliates and their members, in single copies. Please e-mail your request to jan_furstenborg@fiet.org .
Together with Nordic Finance Unions, a new project is launched
The FIET project in the finance sector, which has been prepared for a long time, will finally be launched. At a meeting with finance sector unions from the Nordic countries, it was agreed to start the project with a privatisation conference in Sarajevo on 21 - 22 May. This Conference, which will include participants from both entities, will look at ways to protect bank and insurance workers' jobs and benefits during the privatisation process which is about to start. It will be followed up by a series of other seminars and conferences, as well as smaller events, which will deal with various aspects of trade union work in the sector. The finance sector project, which will be implemented by the FIET project offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, also includes support for building up union structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project covers both entities on an equal basis, the Federation of BiH and the Serb republic.
FIET and Greek Bank Workers' Union will arrange integration conference and youth camp
.A Conference on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the European integration process will be held next autumn in Sarajevo, co-hosted by FIET and the Greek Bank Employees Union OTOE. The Conference forms part of the co-operation between the FIET project organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and OTOE, which will also host a youth camp for one hundred young trade unionists, in Thessaloniki in September. The youth event will bring together participants from both entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from other countries of ex-Yugoslavia, from the Balkan region and from other parts of Europe. The programme for the one-week event will be prepared by the FIET project office in Sarajevo in co-operation with the FIET youth committee.
A 'mobile privatisation conference' is the next major event in the FIET project calendar for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Starting with a one-day session in Laktashi, where the FIET project office for the Serb republic is situated, the Conference will move to Sarajevo for a second working day. Focusing mainly on commerce, the Conference will seek a trade union response that could secure a social dimension in the privatisation process that is already under its way. There will be a high level participation at this meeting also from FIET-affiliated commerce trade unions in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Hungary and Greece. The main local co-operation partner will be the new Commercial Workers Co-ordinating Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which consists of leading trade union representatives from both entities and which was the first joint trade union structure to be established in the post-Dayton BiH.
Finnish FIET-affiliate Liikealan Ammattiliitto - Handelsbranschens Fackförbund LA will arrange a vocational training seminar in Zenica on 21 and 22 May, together with the FIET project organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The seminar will prepare the renovation and development of the commerce school in this Central Bosnian town, where a FIET project office was opened a few months ago. The school has suffered badly from being used as a military hospital during the war and needs a major overhaul, which the Finnish social partners in commerce will support.
The FIET project in Bosnia and Herzegovina is now set to expand also outside the services sectors. Affiliates in the industry sector have expressed an interest to get actively involved in areas such as vocational training for technical professions. The FIET project office in Sarajevo is now exploring possibilities for such projects, in co-operation with the trade union confederation and with unions representing white collar workers in industry and professional and managerial employees.
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The FIET Solidarity Project in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Our e-mail address is: jan_furstenborg@fiet.org