Ginex Production Halt Enters New Phase as Management Defies Board Decision
Ginex management sides with workers, rejecting the Supervisory Board’s pay-increase plan tied to reduced job-complexity coefficients. Production remains halted, and the company calls for urgent government intervention.
Gorazde, Bosnia and Herzegovina — The management of Bosnia’s state-linked ammunition manufacturer UNIS “Ginex” has refused to implement the Supervisory Board’s latest decision on wage increases, siding instead with workers who continue to strike for a fairer pay structure. Production at the company’s Gorazde plant remains fully suspended.
According to an internal letter obtained by AD, the Supervisory Board ordered a 20% pay rise and an additional BAM 400 payment, but tied it to a reduction in job-complexity coefficients — a move that effectively flattens wage differences between skilled and unskilled positions.
The Ginex management rejected this, informing the Board that “workers do not accept a solution that lowers job-complexity coefficients” and that the company cannot restart production until the Board’s decision is withdrawn.
“It is high time this issue is resolved. Any further delay causes irreparable harm to the company, the local community, and the defense industry of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the management wrote.
The letter confirms that all safety measures have been taken at the halted facility and that no incidents occurred during the work stoppage. Management reiterated its position that the only viable solution is to raise the net hourly wage to BAM 6.15 while keeping existing coefficients unchanged for a six-month transitional period.
Tensions between workers, management, and the Supervisory Board have been escalating since mid-October. The Ginex trade union has held multiple negotiation rounds before and after the adoption of the new metal-industry collective agreement, yet the impasse persists.
The company’s management has now called on the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to urgently intervene, stressing that Ginex is a strategic enterprise of national importance and majority state-owned. Workers have gone a step further, demanding the removal of Supervisory Board members representing state capital, citing dissatisfaction with their actions and decisions.
As of Thursday, production at Ginex remains suspended indefinitely.
