Muamer Bandić: Enhanced protection of our workers has been agreed in the meeting in Slovenia



Mr. Muamer Bandić, Director of the Labour and Employment Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, met on 4 November 2022 with representatives of the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia to exchange the data on the number of issued work permits to BiH workers in Slovenia.  It was noted that the Republic of Slovenia issued 13 914 work permits to our citizens by the end of September 2022, 8 809 of which were new permits and 5 105 were extensions of already issued permits.  According to this data, the number of work permits issued this year has slightly increased against the year before.

“In addition to the exchange of information, the necessity to introduce the bilingual work contract has also been discussed in the meeting, which was also discussed with representatives of the responsible Slovenian Ministry two days ago.  We have informed our colleagues from the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia of our talks in the Ministry and we all agreed that the bilingual work contract will facilitate the recruitment procedure and increase transparency of the entire recruitment process”, said Muamer Bandić.

Another issue discussed was the so-called “initial contract” which is the basis for the issuance of work permits.  It was agreed that the “initial contract” received and examined by the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH must be identical to the one received by the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia as the basis for the issuance of residence and work permits.  It has been noticed that some employers send different contracts to different institutions, always adversely affecting workers, which from now on will no longer be possible.  The contract received by the Labour and Employment Agency of BiH will have to bear a stamp of approval of the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia as confirmation that identical contract has been submitted to both institutions.

Considering an increase in the number of work permits issued to BiH workers this and last year, another issue raised in the meeting was the need to extend the inspections of Slovenian employers and working conditions of our workers accordingly. This request was supported by the colleagues from the Employment Service of the Republic of Slovenia.  “All the topics discussed in the meeting were prompted by a desire to strengthen the protection of our workers employed in Slovenia which will surely contribute to their increased safety”, said Mr. Bandić.