The provision of the new General Collective Agreement, according to which the payment of increased daily wages for working on Sundays concerning employees in the media in Montenegro, came into force on July 2 after a 6-month delay, the Media Union of Montenegro reports.

The first Sunday on which the daily wages were increased for journalists and other media workers was July 2. According to Article 15 of the General Collective Agreement, the main salary of employees was increased by at least 80% per hour for working on Sundays and media companies must now also comply with these provisions.

The General Collective Agreement that entered into force at the beginning of 2023 stipulated that the payment of increased daily wages for work on Sundays in the media shall not be applied for 6 months from the date of entry into force of that agreement. In that period, it was foreseen that trade unions and employers from the media industry would conduct negotiations on the conclusion of a new Branch Collective Agreement and if such an agreement isn't concluded within that period, the provision on increasing daily wages on Sundays for media workers would also be applied. The negotiations were initiated at the proposal of the Media Union of Montenegro and the Union of Information, Graphic and Publishing but no agreement has been reached with the employers yet.

The Media Union of Montenegro stated that it will remain committed to reaching a compromise with the employers regarding the new Branch Collective Agreement, but they believe that employers in the media must also accept part of their demands so that the agreement would bring at least some new benefits to their employees.

'We also call on all media workers to insist upon the payment of daily wages for working on Sundays because this right, according to the new General Collective Agreement, was already granted to thousands of employees in other industries at the beginning of this year. Thus, the generally low income of media workers will be improved, i.e. those employees who work on Sundays, when the largest number of employed citizens are resting, will be rewarded, which is the basic premise of this provision', they emphasized.

At the end of last month, the Media Union of Montenegro presented a study on the working conditions in the media where it was shown that even 60% of media workers were not paid for working overtime. It was also stated that the situation is similar for working on weekends and that every second person often works on weekends, while 74% have never been paid extra for working on Sundays.