The Association of Employers in the FBiH held last night an emergency emergency session of the Board of Directors in an expanded composition, and after the session of the Economic and Social Council of the FBiH and the session of the Government of the FBiH, where the Government of the FBiH passed the Decision on the minimum monthly salary of workers in the amount of 1000 KM net.
After the constituent session of the ESV held on Tuesday, December 24, 2024. In 2008, the Employers’ Association prepared a draft of the Regulation on the minimum wages of workers and it was submitted to the president of the ESV, who forwarded the proposal to the delegations of the Government of FBIH and trade unions within the ESV.
After the proposal of the Regulation was rejected by the delegations of the FBIH Government and trade unions at the ESV session, the representatives of the FBiH Government verbally announced that at today’s session of the FBiH Government, the Decision on the minimum wage for 2025 in the minimum NETO will be proposed and probably adopted. in the amount of 1,000 KM. The representatives of the Government and trade unions spoke in favor of such a decision, while the employers’ delegation, after the requested break and internal consultations, informed the attendees that this proposal was unacceptable to the employers, explaining certain risks if such a decision was adopted.
In the meantime, after the ESV session, a session of the Government of FBiH was held, where the Government of FBiH passed the Decision on the minimum wage for the year 2025 in the amount of NET 1,000 KM per month, which increased the allocations for the payment of the gross wages of workers with mandatory taxes and contributions by about 61.5% exclusively at the expense of employers and without approval of any previously announced non-taxable benefits!
The Management Board of the Federation of Employers’ Association points out the serious consequences and risks of making such a hasty decision. Employers are in favor of increasing the wages of workers, but in a way that is possible and sustainable, as was announced, and that is for employers to increase the net wages of workers, and that the authorities, through fiscal and other necessary reforms, will reduce employers’ obligations to the state and that in this way, the position of workers will be improved. To that extent, today’s session of the Economic and Social Council is another missed opportunity for the economic and social partners to show themselves responsible and to discuss and agree on expected and acceptable solutions through dialogue. On the contrary, things have been taken back a few steps!
Today’s uncoordinated decision on such important issues of the business environment, especially before the adoption of the announced set of fiscal laws, the redefinition of health insurance at the expense of employers, the reduction of parafiscal burdens, the harmonization of social benefits, etc., is a serious additional imposition on employers and will cause very certain damages in business, reducing the number of jobs, endangering the competitiveness of our companies, especially on the foreign market, which will further discourage investors in FBiH.
An increase in minimum wages necessarily entails the harmonization, that is, an increase in all other wages, and it is also well known that an increase in the minimum and average wages results in additional social benefits at all levels of government in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It is shocking for the business community that the government has decided to increase the wages of workers without undertaking any fiscal reforms, without announced health insurance reforms, parafiscal relief and other benefits that have been announced for a long time!
The decision on such an extreme increase in minimum wages comes at the very end of the year, when business plans in most companies have already been completed and when it is impossible in most cases to include such a drastic increase in wages in the business plans for the next year.
In the coming days, employers, together with economic experts and the academic community, will analyze the situation they are in and take measures with the aim of preserving their companies and keeping as many workers as possible in their workplaces.
The employers’ association, after the FBiH Government’s decision was made today, was simply overwhelmed by reactions from the field in which representatives of businessmen, chambers, associations and employers, as well as the academic community, as well as the authorities and trade unions, expressed concern about such an unmeasured and uncoordinated decision by the authorities!
Already today, the Association of Employers in the FBIH will launch a series of activities to protect its companies and trades from the damage that today’s Decision is expected to cause, if a package of measures is not urgently created which, as was agreed earlier, will create the necessary balance between the need to relieve business in the FBiH, increasing the net wages of workers and preserving the interests of public funds in the FBiH, and which measures were expected and announced by the authorities in the previous period, reports Zenit.
