BiH Miners to Protest in Zenica and Sarajevo Over Pay
Workers at four mines run by Elektroprivreda BiH went unpaid for August, and the miners' union has called protests for September 21 in Zenica and September 22 in Sarajevo.
Workers at four brown coal mines belonging to Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine, the Bosnian power utility known as Elektroprivreda BiH, stopped work today, while the Independent Union of Miners of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced protests in Zenica and Sarajevo for next Monday and Tuesday. The reason is the same at every mine: August wages never reached workers’ accounts, and as a result some of them cannot even get their health insurance booklets validated.
The decision was made today by the union’s Executive Board at an emergency session in Tuzla. Work has stopped at RMU Kakanj, RMU Breza, RMU Zenica and RMU Abid Lolic Bila near Han Bila in the municipality of Travnik, four of the seven mines operating within the concern. The overdue wages for August 2026 have left thousands of families without income just as autumn approaches, at a time when the public company is still negotiating with representatives of the Federal Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry.
An unvalidated health insurance booklet in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina effectively means that a miner and his family members cannot get an examination covered by mandatory health insurance until the debt to the fund is settled, so the wage problem at the mines is directly spilling over into access to medical care. The announced protests were also reported by Radio Television of Republika Srpska, which likewise confirmed that the decision on the protest gatherings was made by the Executive Board at the session in Tuzla.
Protest in Zenica on Monday, Sarajevo a Day Later
In line with the Executive Board’s decision, the RMU Kakanj union branch will hold a protest gathering on Monday, September 21, starting at 10 a.m., outside the building of the Health Insurance Institute of Zenica-Doboj Canton in Zenica. According to the union’s statement, workers from all the concern’s coal mines will take part in the gathering, including those from RMU Abid Lolic Bila.
In its statement from the session in Tuzla, the union spelled out what will be demanded at the gathering:
The protest will demand compliance with and implementation of the agreements signed and agreed upon on August 6 between RMU Kakanj, RMU Breza, including RMU Zenica in Zenica, and the Zenica-Doboj Canton Health Insurance Institute.
This refers to an agreement that was supposed to resolve the pay dispute between the relevant institutions and the mining organizations more than a month ago but which, according to the union, still has not been implemented in practice.
A day later, on Tuesday, September 22 at noon, a protest has also been announced outside the headquarters of the public company Elektroprivreda BiH in Sarajevo. That gathering is being organized by the RMU Breza union branch, and the demand is the same as in Zenica: payment of the August wages owed to employees of RMU Breza and RMU Abid Lolic Bila from Han Bila.
The decision to hold the protests was also confirmed to the media by Jasmin Telalovic, president of the Breza Brown Coal Mine union.
Union Says It’s Ready to Talk, but Still Wants Payment
Even though the Executive Board decided to go ahead with the protests, its statement also says the door remains open for talks:
The Executive Board supports the demand for wage payment, as well as all the efforts being made by representatives of the Federal Ministry of Energy, Mining and Industry, and, following the timeline set by the Zenica mine, by the formal and informal representatives of the workers, to fulfill this demand. The Executive Board is ready for constant dialogue in order to find a solution, so that the challenges we face can be overcome without having to carry out today’s Executive Board conclusions.
As of the Monday and Tuesday when the protests were announced, the August wages from the mines’ coffers had, according to available information, still not reached workers’ accounts. Similar delays have dogged the Elektroprivreda BiH concern in previous months as well, and the seven brown coal mines within it normally supply the power plants that generate most of the electricity used in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
