Bosnian workers go hungry to fight for full payment
SARAJEVO:
“If we must, we will rights,” says Jasmin die for our
Arific.
Every morning he and his former colleagues from the Hidrogradnja public construction company gather in front of the government’s headquarters in Sarajevo to demand their pensions.
Hidrogradnja was once a jewel in the Yugoslav construction sector, an industrial mammoth employing up to 4,000 people.
But after Bosnia’s war in the 1990s, business gradually went downhill like at many state-run firms hit by both the transition to a market economy for which they were not equipped, and mismanagement.
Eventually Hidrogradnja was declared bankrupt in 2016.
Two years on, Arific and his co-workers, eight of whom have been on hunger strike since Jan 29, are still fighting for what is owed to them.
“Our pension contributions were not paid since 2003,” Arific said.
“And on top of that, they owe us our salaries for 36 months,” said the 51-year-old father of three – his children are either unemployed or students.
Hidrogradnja’s bankruptcy threw 600 people out of work.
Nearly half of them who were entitled to retire immediately were shocked to find they would get no pension, as the company had not been paying into the state pension fund.
It is a widespread problem in Bosnia.
According to trade unions, between 50,000 and 65,000 former or current employees of mostly state companies, such as hospitals, mines or public transport, are in the same situation.
Tax authorities estimate that unpaid social contributions amount to almost two billion euros, or half of Bosnia’s annual national budget.
State companies account for more than half of that amount.
Trade unionist Redzo Kuric, of the Independent Trade Union of Forestry, Wood Processing and Paper, said two billion euros would cover a “whole year of pensions” for the country’s 670,000 retirees.
Non-payment of pension contributions is illegal in Bosnia but generally goes unaddressed.
Economic analyst Zarko Papic said that ruling political parties use public companies to employ “their cadres, activists and voters”.
“So there are more employees than they need everywhere.
“For this to stand up, they don’t pay taxes and pension contributions,” the analyst, who heads an initiative that works for better and more humane social inclusion, said.
In one of Europe’s poorest countries, with a population of 3.5 million, the official jobless rate stands at 40%.
But many people work in the black economy and the World Bank estimates unemployment actually to be around 28%, with one quarter of the Bosnian population living below the poverty line.
“It means they just have enough to eat,” Papic said.
In December, a 55-year-old miner from the central town of Zenica committed suicide because, his col- leagues said, he was prevented from retiring due to unpaid pension fund contributions.
In protest, angry co-workers of Sefik Sisic threatened to set themselves on fire in a facility belonging to the coal mine.
“Sefik did not commit suicide, he was killed by the state,” claimed independent political analyst Dragan Bursac.
The prime minister of Bosnia’s Muslim-Croat half Fadil Novalic has urged workers to be patient and cool-headed.
“This is a problem that we cannot solve overnight, we need patience,” he has said.
“I urge workers to refrain from radical moves.”