The Institute for Youth Development KULT, within the initiative “Improving Human Rights Corporate Accountability in the BiH”, examined the attitudes and opinions of citizens in BiH on respect for human rights in the economic sector. Taking into account that it is an economic sector, the aim of this research was to interview as many people as possible who are directly or indirectly related to the economic sector.
A total of 603 respondents participated in the research, of which 566, i.e., 93.86% were employed or were employed in the previous period, and the remaining 6.14% of respondents were never employed. In relation to the relevance of the questions, 93.86% of respondents who are currently employed or were employed answered some of them.
Out of a total of 603 research participants, more than 2/3, i.e., 67.49% of respondents state that they are employed on the basis of an employment contract, while 12.77% of participants state that they are currently unemployed, but that they were previously employed. A relatively high percentage of 7.13% of participants stated that they were employed on the basis of an employment contract, while 6.14% of participants said that they had never been employed. The devastating figure represents 4.48% of employees without any contract.
The opinion poll process took place through three aspects related to the rights of workers in the economic sector.
The first aspect focuses on the duty of the state to protect workers’ rights, i.e., the existence of legal regulations that actively protect workers’ rights. The second aspect is reflected in whether economic entities comply with legal regulations relating to the protection of workers’ rights in the workplace. The third aspect is the knowledge of the legal remedy and its effective use in case of violation of workers’ rights by economic entities.
Analysis on the exercise of workers’ rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina shows that 1.49% of respondents fully believe that in general employees in all companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina exercise equal rights, while 69.65% of them point out that they do not fully agree that all employees exercise the same rights.
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A more detailed analysis found that 75.66% of women and 24.34% of men completely disagree that all employees exercise equal rights. On the other hand, 52.90% of respondents completely disagree with the fact that women and men in Bosnia and Herzegovina exercise equal rights in the labor market, and 3.98% of respondents fully agree that women and men exercise equal rights in the labor market. According to the gender structure, a total of 81.45% of women and 18.55% of men stated that they completely disagree with the fact that women and men exercise equal rights in the labor market.
The statement within the question that women and men in Bosnia and Herzegovina are paid equally for the same position (job) and the same level of responsibility is not fully supported by 40.46% of respondents, and 6.47% of respondents point out that they fully agree with the statement. According to gender structure, a total of 83.47% of women and 16.87% of men stated that they completely disagree with the fact that women and men are paid equally for the same position and the same level of responsibility.
A total of 72.97% of respondents completely disagree with the statement that persons with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoy the same rights as other persons in the labor market, and 1.66% of respondents say that they fully agree with this statement. A detailed analysis showed that 77.68% of women and 22.32% of men state that they completely disagree with the statement that persons with disabilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina enjoy the same rights as other persons in the labor market.
The question about the form of ownership of the company was answered by all participants who are currently employed and who were once employed, the other 6.14% of participants did not answer the question. As a percentage, the largest number, i.e., 36.93% of the total of 566 respondents who answered this question, stated that they were employed or were employed in a private domestic company, followed by 23.32% of employees in state-owned companies. The lowest percentage of employees, i.e., 7.07%, is or was employed in foreign organizations, institutions or foundations.
When asked whether something changed in the work dynamics during the coronavirus pandemic, the majority of participants, i.e., 43.89%, stated that nothing changed. 19.45% of participants stated that their workload increased, and 8, 04% of participants answered that their salary was reduced during the coronavirus pandemic. A significant percentage of respondents, 7.56%, state that they were out of work before the coronavirus pandemic. Of the respondents who stated that they lost their jobs permanently during the pandemic, 83.37% were women and 16.67% were men.
Participants who chose the other responses option had the opportunity to explain the most significant change that occurred to them during the pandemic. The most numerous answers were related to “work from home”.
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The research also aimed to find out the opinion of the respondents on the way of employment in various forms of companies and the fairness of employment. Thus, 49.09% of respondents completely disagree with the fact that the way of employment in private domestic companies is fair for all citizens, and 4.81% of them completely agree with this statement. When it comes to employment in private foreign companies, 37.15% of respondents state that they somewhat agree that the way of employment in this type of company is fair for all citizens, 15.59% of them somewhat disagree with that. The largest number of respondents, 37.15%, state that they somewhat agree that the way of employment in companies that are a combination of domestic and foreign is fair for all citizens. However, of all the questions asked, the highest percentage of disagreement is that employment in state-owned companies is fair for all citizens, where 73.96% of respondents state that they do not completely agree with this statement.
After being asked about the general attitudes of the respondents on the topic of respect of workers’ rights, the respondents were asked whether they consider that the state legal authorities adequately sanction the employer in case of violation of workers’ rights. 70.32% answered “no” and 21.23% partially considers that the state legal authorities adequately sanction the employer in case of violation of workers’ rights. Only 4.64% of respondents believe that the state legal authorities adequately sanction the employer in case of violation of workers’ rights.
It is worrying that 1/3 of the respondents, more precisely 32.50% of them, state that they were victims and that they witnessed illegalities/irregularities towards other employees. According to the gender structure of the respondents who stated that they were victims or witnessed illegalities against other employees, 78.60% were women and the remaining 21.40% were men. Furthermore, 27.53% of them state that they were not a direct victim, but that they witnessed illegalities towards other employees.
Research participants were asked whether they had ever initiated proceedings against companies for violating their rights. The highest percentage of answers, or 46.60%, is that the respondents did not have the need to initiate proceedings against the company. A total of 13.60% of respondents answered that they intended to initiate proceedings, but that they gave up because they were afraid of the consequences. Of the total number of respondents, 6.80% of them initiated proceedings against the company, and 3.98% of respondents did not want to answer the question.
Out of a total of 6.80% of respondents who stated that they initiated proceedings against companies, in the gender structure there is an interesting fact that as many as 80.49% are women, and the remaining 19.51% are men. According to the results of this research, 60.98% more women than men initiated proceedings. It can be concluded that women are more likely to initiate proceedings against companies in case of violation of their rights.
30.02% of respondents answered that they did not witness any illegal behavior of the company, 19.57% that they did not indicate the illegal behavior of the company. As many as 18.08% of respondents stated that they were indirectly threatened because they pointed out or wanted to point out the illegal behavior of the company, and 8.29% of them stated that they were directly threatened for the same reasons.
