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On July 31 a new labour law was passed without proper procedures in the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It reduces substantially labour rights in terms of contracts and collective bargaining. According to the UNI ICTS affiliate in the country, Sindikat Hrvatskih Telekomunikacija (SHT), the new labour law is part of Fadil Novalic’s conservative government reform agenda to get new credits from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

One week before the law was passed, the negotiation process was interrupted after the union representatives proposed to transfer the debate for the next session of Economic and Social Council. The ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow wrote to Fadil Novalic expressing her deep concern about the lack of social dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the 30th of July, during the session of the Dome of People discussing the new Labor law in urgent manner, several thousand workers rallied outside the Parliament building in Sarajevo to protest the new law.

Branimir Vukojević, President of Assembly of SHT, said: “The new law only protects union professionals. The existing strike law makes it very hard to organize effective strikes. The new law limits severance pay to 6 monthly salaries maximum. The minimum wage is less than 200 €. That it means a great opportunity to maximize profit for employers and extra profit for investors that want to be the owners of telecom and power enterprises after privatization process is finished”.

Javier Carles, UNI ICTS Department Coordinator, said: “UNI shares the same concerns that ITUC regarding Bosnia and Herzegovina and supports to SHT in its rejection of the new labour law".