In this country with just over two million inhabitants, split into two entities – the Federation and the Serb Republic – nothing is simple. Nearly half of the workforce is unemployed, the economy is still destroyed and many workers do not get any wages. Most of those who are paid receive an income below the existence minimum. There is not much space for collective bargaining, wage claims and benefits development. No wonder that the incentive to join a union and pay the one per cent membership fee is not very strong.

Membership registers have to be created

Also the trade union structures still reflect the old Yugoslavian economy. The major part of fees incomes remain at company levels and whatever reaches union headquarters is insufficient to pay even the basic running costs. There is no membership registration system that would show the names of individual members. Unionisation is still a collective affair, with a whole workplace joining and the company forwarding the fees, when it is.

There are two separate commerce trade union structures in Bosnia and Herzegovina, like in all other sectors. The commerce unions have, however, been in the forefront of cooperation and reconciliation. This was the first sector to establish also joint union structures, and increasingly, education and training activities are joint. An active women’s network does not even have entity structures.

When organising and union rebuilding started in 1996, the membership was down to zero. Old membership lists were of no use and organisers started to travel around the country, signing up everyone as a new member. This was not easy in an environment where they could have to change cars even three times during a five hour trip, to have the ‘safe’ registration plates for the entity or region they were traveling through. However, the unions did succeed and today, the total number of organised commercial workers is over 10,000.

Vocational training is a union service

Organising in commerce is not only about signing up members. When collective bargaining possibilities are almost non-existent, the unions have to be able to offer something else. Vocational training has proved to be one of the keys to success. In Sarajevo, hundreds of commerce workers have improved their employment prospects by learning computer skills and English at the Uni Commerce supported training centre, which the commerce union is running. Department store workers who had not received wages for several months still managed to collect a trade union fee, as a sign of their appreciation for the chance they were given. Now, a similar centre is being planned for Banja Luka in the Serb Republic.

Without a proper membership registration system, the commerce unions cannot sustain these results. They also need this register to monitor and control fees payments. Uni Commerce has provided the unions with a register programme, which is now being tested and which will be taken into use from the beginning of next year.

Young people take the lead

The revival of commerce trade unionism in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been the work of young people. With very few exceptions, the organisers and other project workers are in their twenties, completely oriented towards the new society and economy. The generation change will continue at trade union elections and congresses later this year.