The National Confederation of Trade Unions is concerned about the delay in the approval of the new guaranteed minimum salary in the real sector in the amount of 3,500 lei as from February 1 this year. In a statement, trade unions say the given subject wasn’t included in the agenda of the February 16 meeting of the Cabinet even if the bill was drafted by the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection and was proposed for endorsement at the start of 2022, IPN reports.
“We consider it is inacceptable to violate the principles of social partnership when the socioeconomic conditions of the population in the country are difficult. For 12 months of 2021, inflation was 13.94% and the National Bank of Moldova anticipated that this year it will be 18.8%. This will seriously affect the living conditions of the people,” runs the statement.
According to trade unionists, the rise in the minimum guaranteed salary will be an important measure to motivate the personnel from the real sector, primarily the 17.4% of the employees of the real sector who, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, in September 2021 benefitted from a monthly salary lower than 4,000 lei.
The Confederation reminds that the rise in the guaranteed minimum salary is a joint commitment of the social partners (Government, trade unions, employers) that was agreed by the signing of a memorandum between the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova and the National Confederation of Employers of the Republic of Moldova, following the agreements reached in the December 22, 2021 meeting of the National Commission for Collectives Consultations and Negotiations.
Therefore, the National Confederation of Trade Unions insistently asks the Government to approve the decision on the application of the new guaranteed minimum salary in the real sector in the amount of 3,500 lei.
Currently, the guaranteed minimum salary in the real sector is 2,935 lei a month or 17.37 lei an hour.
