On the occasion of May Day, the Social Sciences Research Center at International Burch University hosted representatives of various labor unions at the cantonal, entity, and national levels in the fields of education, media, medicine, and civil service for a panel discussion on the topic Labor Union in the Fight for Social Justice and Decent Work for All.
More specifically, Izet Hočko of the Union of Doctors of Medicine and Dentistry of Canton Sarajevo, Merima Kurtović-Pašalić of the Independent Union of BHRT Workers, Samir Kurtović of the Independent Union of Civil Servants and Employees in the Organs of the Civil Service, Judiciary, and Public Institutions of FBiH, and Edina Čomić of the Union for Middle and Higher Education, Upbringing, Science, and Culture of BiH participated, while Prof. Dr. Lejla Ramić Mesihović, the head of the Department of International Relations and European Studies, moderated.
May Day, formally the International Workers’ Day and also known as Labor Day, is an annual observance of the rights of working people and the overall labor cause. The holiday has morphed from its initial iteration as a reaction to the Haymarket affair in Chicago in 1886 to a festive observance of the gains made by workers throughout the world.
Initial demands of workers’ movements included an 8-hour work day and other demands that have become engulfed into mainstream public policy and even the Sustainable Development Goals, while currently a climate of a labor-capital division permeates the discourse around labor movements and May Day – arguably demonstrating the progress towards equality workers have made in the 135 years since May Day was first observed as such.
The panelists concurred that unity is better than fragmentation in the common fight for a better standard of work and have demonstrated as much through recent advances for both union members and other workers in these four industries.
In the last few years, for example, unions were able to increase their members’ salaries, are advocating the use of existing funding for procurement of better tools, have supported a fairer systematization of work places, and standardized employment rights for all in the sectors.
Furthermore, unions continually participate in social dialogue with other socio-economic actors and strive towards minimum standards throughout the country, despite the fragmented nature of Bosnia and Herzegovina, both administratively and politically.
When unions across common divisions, such as cantonal lines or even entity lines, join and present a joint list of demands, particularly along with a threat of a strike, counterparts in the employment sector listen and more often than not accede to union positions.
Nonetheless, there are significant challenges for unions, ranging from low visibility of their contributions to discontent among membership due to slow progress and from incorrect public perceptions of their role to uninformed younger workers who take for granted the rights previous generations of workers have obtained.
This is why, as all four panelists stated, labor unions are not positioned against other socio-economic actors but are rather strongly for the implementation of various existing rights and expanding the scope of what is considered a right, as well as the overall improvement of the state of play for workers in various industries. In this sense, labor unions contribute to the development of the country and support its accession to the European Union.
The panelists concluded that while significant strides have been made towards workers rights throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, there is a continuous need for more solidarity, better education about union benefits, and a collaborative approach involving unions, employers, and governments to address disparities and uphold the rights of workers.
Transcript of the panel discussion is available here.