STANKOVIĆ: AGREEMENT AMONG SOCIAL PARTNERS ON WAGE GROWTH IS ENCOURAGING

BANJA LUKA, NOVEMBER 6 /SRNA/ – Goran Stanković, president of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Republika Srpska, said the unions' position was that wages had to rise substantially. He said it was encouraging that government and employer representatives had agreed with this at the first meeting of the social partners on next year's minimum wage.

Speaking on a podcast of the Republika Srpska Media System - SRNA, Stanković said the confederation expected a pay rise that workers would feel in their household budgets.

He said an increase of five, six or eight percent would satisfy neither the confederation nor workers, who expected concrete results.

Stanković said employers should use part of their profits to raise wages further and significantly improve workers' living standards.

He said the business community, including banks and sole traders, had made a net profit of BAM 4.3 billion last year, but had not used a significant part of it to raise workers' wages.

"In the first nine months of this year, the average net wage rose by BAM 134. Of that, BAM 123 came when the minimum wage was raised at the beginning of the year, and the rest in April and September, when wages for public-sector employees and those paid from public funds were increased. When employers raise wages themselves, the average increase is only BAM 11," Stanković said.

The new episode of SRNA's podcast, featuring Confederation of Trade Unions of Republika Srpska President Goran Stanković, will be available to our subscribers tomorrow at 10 a.m., as well as on social media and our YouTube channel.