Trade unions ask MPs to elect head of state for crisis-hit salary earner’s benefit

The National Confederation of Trade Unions calls upon the MPs not to be conceited and take part in the election of the head of state, Info-Prim Neo reports. “The election of the head of state and the formation of the new government as soon as possible will alleviate the impact of the world economic and financial crisis that deepens in our country,” the Confederation’s vice president Oleg Budza told a news conference on May 19. For the time being, there are no salary arrears in the budgetary sector, but in the real sector they amount to 120 million lei. The construction sector, agriculture and processing industry are the worst-hit. Petru Chiriac, who is also vice president of the National Confederation of Trade Unions, said that the money available in the budget will be enough to raise teachers’ salaries from July 1. The trade unions asks the authorities not to adopt a common income tax of 15% and to raise the VAT by 2% as Moldova’s outgoing president Vladimir Voronin proposed recently. The Confederation’s secretary Nicolae Suruceanu considers that after implemented, such decisions would result in lower incomes for the people that receive low salaries and will lead to the development of shadow economy. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the number of salaried employees over the first months of this year has decreased by over 17,000. A number of 34,500 persons are now out of work, as against 17,800 on January 1, 2009. Yet, according to the International Labor Organization, the unemployed in Moldova total over 120,000.