POPULIST NOTION OF DE FACTO IMPROVEMENT OF LABOUR RIGHTS: ON ATTITUDES OF THE CITIZENS OF THE FEDERATION OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA REGARDING THE SUNDAY WORK BAN

In the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the Law on Internal Trade, it is planned to restrict work on Sundays for most sales facilities. This would apply to the territory of the entity concerned, i.e., 51% of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s territory. Previously, unlike other countries that introduced the same or similar practices, there have been no significant social and political discussions or surveys of the views of workers, employers, and citizens. This paper aims to research the citizens' views of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on non-working Sundays and thus offer a basis for a better discussion of this issue. A convenience sample of 406 respondents from the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB&H) entity was used. Despite the expressed bias on the topic of banning trade on Sundays, the analysis of respondents’ answers regarding the willingness to work on Sundays (with the condition of a second day off some other day and 50% higher wages for working on Sundays) showed that more than half of the respondents support working on Sundays under this condition. The survey results showed that citizens are less inclined to restrict the operation of smaller shops and that the ban on working on Sundays is mainly supported by those who do not work on Sundays.