GZS and OZS propose compulsory 5-year employment due to lack of BiH workforce

Employers' proposal sent to the ministry remains a mystery

1. julij 2018 ob 6.56 • Ljubljana - MMC RTV SLO

Robert Sever, director of the Transport Association at GZS, said that the association expects the labour ministry and the Employment Service to shorten the "abnormally long bureaucratic procedures in issuing work permits for the work of foreigners". Foto: Luka Lukič

The provision of the agreement on the employment of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Slovenia, whereby these workers must stay employed for at least one year with the same employer if they wish to retain a work permit, has already been heavily criticised, as it enables unfair employees to force their employees to stay. In contrast, the traffic sections of commerce chambers OZS and GZS suggest that the time period should be longer. They have addressed an initiative to the labour ministry, proposing that BiH citizens should stay with the same employer for at least five years to obtain a valid work permit.

The initiative, which was jointly addressed to the Labour Ministry by the Section for Traffic at the Chamber of Craft and Small Business of Slovenia (OZS) and the Association for Transport at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Slovenia (GZS), is still shrouded in mystery, as the responses from both associations to our inquiry regarding this initiative are relatively scarce. However, the ministry has confirmed that they received an initiative to extend the compulsory employment period with one employer for BiH citizens from one to five years, before the worker would gain free access to the Slovenian labour market.

According to our unofficial information, the argument for this initiative is a lack of adequate staff in the Slovenian labour market and the unfair takeover of trained personnel, done by the so-called straw businesses. Unfortunately, we haven’t received a more detailed explanation from the chambers. The OZS answered that our questions on the current problem of driver recruitment with Slovene carriers will be answered by the chairman of the transport section, Peter Pišek, when he returns from abroad, and we have not received his answers after a week and a half.

No justification for five-year employment demand
Robert Sever, director of the Transport Association at GZS, said that the association expects the labour ministry and the Employment Service to shorten the "abnormally long bureaucratic procedures in issuing work permits for the work of foreigners". According to Sever, these procedures can take up to three months. GZS also expects the removal of administrative obstacles arising from the issue of A1 certificates, "without which foreign nationals cannot work as professional drivers in the EU. We’re still waiting for the promised response from the Slovenian Ministry of Labour and for a solution regarding A1 certificates." However, Sever did not provide any answers to our request for a justification of the proposal for BiH citizens.