Why women in the trade stores are not entitled to a chair in the workplace seems to be a trivial question. However, it entails a series of answers that indicate the relationship of employers and workers, which is devoid of respect and dignity.

It is known that it is always expected from workers  to have a smile, good mood and always on our service while trying to please all customers requirements.

Besides all impediments, empleyer expects female workers to be painted, polished and polite. And now workers remain without a simply resort which would make their 8 hours of work easier – chair.

Eight hours of hard labor

Ena* worked in the commercial sector, for a private company in Sarajevo. Being a seller for two years, made her realize what it means to “on your feet” the entire working day. At her workplace, chairs were banned even in warehouses – in premises where the goods are declared and prepared for presentation. The reason for not having a chair is because that indicates a lack of work.

Mersiha Beširović, president of the Union of Trade and Services BiH, also believes that employers do not want to provide the chairs on these kinds of positions, primarily because of the image.

“Neither employers do not have an argument why it is necessary that workers should stand.The way to justify this is the image to the buyers, the fact that these workers standing behind the counter should the customer ,who comes and makes profit to the employer, wait on her feet. That’s not an argument, because often these workers stand between arrivalof two buyers. So, even then one can not sit down, she can not even move away from the cash register. I think this is a psychological phenomenon that is not directly mobbing, but it would certainly have characteristics of harassment and violence in the workplace and mental torture which is more common. In some stores they went even so far as to count the number of times that workers go to the toilet because they move away from the cash register, which, in this way, these eight hours, become their imprisonment. They are actually in prison those eight hours.“

Varicose veins, swollen legs and psychological problems

In addition to what standing for hours, unable to rest, make to the body, negligible is that how working conditions affect the mental health of the employee. And due to these problems, Ena* had to aks for the help from doctor.

Mersiha Beširović also considers that such treatment towards employees may leave major health consequences, especially mental.

“I think there’s a lot more serious mental consequences because  of the fact that someone makes you stand regardless of whether you have work or not.  In our contacts with these workers, we often get answers from them that they also mean to stand and work when you have a lot of goods at the cash register, but the fact that someone put you in an adverse and abnormal situation, shows that somebody is treating you bad and notthinkingabout your dignity and, ultimately, not about your health. I think the mental side of this phenomenon is more difficult, much more painful than the health consequences that will definitely take place, regardless of whether it is a younger or older person. The average in the trade is 35-45 years, but still this is where the health segment is being felt already. ”

The absence of comment and justification from trading centers

The conclusion was that the Bingo trading centers chairs really exist, and that workers are the ones who decide whether to use them or not. In order to check the accuracy of this information, we went to the nearest branch. In one there were chairs, but in another office, all employees at the cash registerwere in standing position and chairs were not visible. On the question of whether we can look where the chairs were located, department manager responded that all workers have decided not to use the chairs, and they wereplaced into the storage. But they were removed from the storage, because there were not enough place.

Konzum replied that the decision on the buying the chairs primarily is based on the size of the store.

Comment of Amko Commerce Group was simple – they do not have a comment on this topic.

Problems are only existential questions

The commerce trade and services trade union receives daily messages of disgruntled workers, from both the commercial as well as from other sectors. Messages are sent anonymously, often with from the fake Facebook profiles. However, the big problem that Beširović points out, is the fear of the workers and concern for existential questions. Everything else will often not be seen as a problem.

“We live in a country where you have no existential rights that workers put as priority. The big problem is that the workers will not put the lack of chair as a problem. We, as a union, and possibly NGOs,are dealing with this issue, instead of workers to come to us with this problem. Most often they do not even complain about it, because it does not directly affect their livelihoods. These problems come to you as a side. ”

Personal income of the employer in front of the rights of workers

According to the latest analysis of the situation in the field that the Union did in 2015, the two most common problems that workers face are mobbing (27.5 percent of workers) and unpaid overtime (for 21.4 percent of workers). Furthermore, workers point out paying contributions, prohibition of the use of daily and weekly rest, unsigned contract and working hours above the legal maximum.

In almost all categories of violations of labor rights, a number of complaints were filed by women. The biggest difference is noticeable in the category of ‘bullying / harassment, where women reported the violation in 29, and men in 8 cases. The most common form of this type of harassment are verbal assaults and threats, while physical abuse and sexual  harassment recorded in smaller numbers.

Analysis showed that mobbing in the workplace is usually committed by the immediate superior. They are followed by other colleagues, and then the owners and directors, as well as legal services. It is interesting that even 65 percent of those surveyed did not know who is doing the bullying, or did not want to answer this question.

“It is evident that most people said frequent violations of workers’ rights are the biggest problem in the enterprise, which points to the growing presence of improper conduct by employers against workers. The reasons for this are numerous, including the malpractice of employers who place personal gain ahead of the rights of workers, poor protection and poor mechanisms for the protection of workers through legal framework, law enforcement, low influence of associations of workers, and the inability of workers to join those who will protect them, “states the analysis.

* Names have been changed because of the protect of the interviewee.