Challenges and Perspectives for Commerce Trade Unions in West Balkan Region

In cooperation with HK Region Indre Ostland Commerce Trade Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (STBIH) organized first conference for Commerce Trade Unions in West Balkan region. Conference was held 11-13 March in Sarajevo and was titled as „Challenges and Perspectives for Commerce unions in the region“ It gathered elected leadership of Commerce Trade Unions from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Monte Negro and Bosnia and Herzegovina  who used this opportunity to meet and to exchange experiences and information about the challenges of their unions and the activities they conduct. Members of STBIH Executive Committee also took part on the conference as well as president of Confederation of TUs of BIH. Conference also attracted lot of media attention especially since it was organized in the time of great political crisis in the country and weakened relations with Serbia.

From the opening of the  conference

The main focus for the participants on the conference was financial and economical crisis and its effects on union’s work but the subject of the discussion was also increasing needs for globalizing union initiatives in the region and designing joint strategy. KONZUM, INTEREX, MERCATOR and some other regional companies, present in number of former Yugoslavian countries, put lot of joint challenges in front of the commerce unions and on this conference the union representatives discuss the possibilities for joint activities and joint approach to the promotion of the rights of members.

Three main fields were defined as the basis for future joint work:

•    Fixed term contracts for commerce workers
•    Equal opportunities programs on the regional level
•    Social partnership and straightening the social dialogue potentials

The conference adopted joint Declaration which is attached in its original BIH version. In this Declaration the union representatives agreed on starting initiative for establishing the Balkan Commerce Comittee,joint permanent body that will meet at least once a year with the same aim: to exchange the information and experiences and to design the joint activities and approaches. The first task of the Committee will be initiative for Regional Collective agreement for KONZUM workers. However, Commerce Trade Unions in Balkan region struggle with the finances and participants express their fear that lack of recourses can slow the process. Therefore in their Declaration the union leaders from West Balkan asked for the support from Nordic Unions. The Nordic Commerce Committee is also used as a role model for future Balkan Comittee.Therefore all experiences as well as information of the work of this committee is welcomed. FIET Project office in Sarajevo was asked to try to secure the project support for the next conference.

Sonja Knežević,president of Commerce Trade Union of Monte Negro

signes The Conference Declaration

Medias who followed the conference were very much interested in the establishing of the Balkan Committee as first and only initiative of this kind in the region. They also put in focus the fact that membership of the union from Slovenia in this Committee and the fact that it is EU member country can bring lots of benefit for the other unions.