The Prime Minister of the Republic of Srpska, Radovan Višković, stated that for the period from March to the end of May, more than 120 million KM will be allocated to the real sector within salaries and contributions.
– In the next few days, we will in some way compensate and help economic entities whose workers will not be able to receive a salary, and according to estimates, there are about 6,000 economic entities with about 33,000 to 34,000 workers for which we will pay this type of assistance – said Viskovic after meeting of the delegations of the Government of Srpska and the Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Srpska in Banja Luka on measures related to the status issues of workers due to the negative impact of the coronavirus epidemic.
He emphasized that all those funds are in line with the possibilities of the Republic of Srpska and represent what Srpska “can separate” at this moment.
Višković said that in the past three months of the pandemic, in addition to people who lost their jobs, there were more than three thousand newly employed workers.
He cited the example that during those three months in the Federation of BiH, more than 30,000 people lost their jobs and that in that entity in the last 15 days to 20 days, that number decreased by some 9,000.
– Everything that we did in March, April and May, that we will do in June for certain economic entities, for some and until the end of the year, how we will help, we will assess at a given moment, according to given economic entities and circumstances in which they find themselves – stressed Višković.
He said that the cooperation between the Government and the Federation of Trade Unions of Srpska is correct and that a significant part of the measures was realized in the agreement, without dissonant tones.
The president of the Federation of Trade Unions of Srpska, Ranka Mišić, said that the measures adopted by the Government of Srpska in cooperation with the union resulted in no mass layoffs, stating that as of June 10, 5,861 workers lost their jobs, of which 2,656 had a contract to a certain extent.
She also stated that 1,978 workers were declared redundant, and added that they received compensation as defined by law.
– If there are other employers whose workers were entitled to a salary of 520 KM in gross amount, we invite them to submit the necessary documentation. We also talked about changing the legal regulations for better protection at work – said Mišić and noted that the employer is obliged to provide protective masks, which all workers must wear indoors, as well as the prescribed distance between workers.
Mišić announced that in the following period, talks between representatives of branch unions and line ministries will follow in order to find a solution, especially for certain branches that are very hard hit by the epidemic, such as catering, hotels, and transportation.
Višković pointed out that some measures implemented by Srpska in the past period of the pandemic were not applied by anyone in the area.
TST
