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The National Council for Tripartite Cooperation (NCTC) held an online meeting called by the Deputy Prime Minister of Ideographic Economic Policy and Minister of Tourism Mariana Nikolova
Mariana Nikolova was born on September 16, 1975. She graduated in Public Administration and, announced by the Council of Ministers.
In the first item on the agenda of the NCTS meeting, the government and social partners discussed the draft Decree of the Council of Ministers for the determination of the country’s minimum wage.
The draft Decree of the Council of Ministers proposes that the minimum wage for the country as of January 1, 2021 be 650 BGN, which is in execution of the Government Management Program (2017-2021)
The proposed amount of the minimum wage is determined by the updated Medium-Term Budget Forecast for the period 2020-2022, adopted by a Decision of the Council of Ministers of December 2019.
The increase in the minimum wage is expected to contribute to:
– reduction of income inequality;
– increase the purchasing power and consumption of lower-income workers and reduce the risk of poverty;
increase the motivation of the lower income part of the workforce to seek work;
– completion and permanence in the Bulgarian labor market;
– raise the standard of living and reduce the risk of working poverty;
The increase in the minimum wage is part of the income convergence process.
The NCTS did not achieve unanimous support for the draft Decree. Unions support the proposal and employers’ organizations do not support raising the minimum wage.
At point two of the NCTS meeting agenda the government and social partners discussed the draft Decree of the Council of Ministers on the determination of the terms and conditions for the payment of compensation to insured employees in economic activities for which a state body has temporary restrictions for their implementation during the period of declared state of emergency or declared epidemic state of emergency.
The objective is to provide, as a priority, timely support to maintain the employment of employees in companies that have ceased their economic activity as a result of the pandemic.
Employees are expected to pay severance pay for unpaid leave in connection with state-imposed restrictions on the activity for which they are employed, and individuals are entitled to severance pay for no more than 60 days.
In the case of a working day of 8 hours, the compensation is BGN 24 per day for the period of unpaid leave of the insured, since in cases of part-time work the amount of compensation is determined proportionally.
Employees are expected to submit to their employer a written statement on a form, indicating the period of use of the leave without pay and a bank account to which the compensation will be paid. Applications are sent to the Directorate of the Labor Office and the commission reviews the documents received within 10 business days. The Employment Agency publishes on its website information on employers and the number of their employees who have been approved for payment of benefits within 2 business days.
The compensation amounts will be paid within 5 working days after the approval of the submitted application and are eligible for the period between 29.10.2020 and 31.12.2020.
The expected number of people who will receive compensation under the terms and conditions of the Decree is more than 32,500.
The financial resources necessary for the payment of compensation under the Decree will be provided by the Operational Program “Human Resources Development” through the REACT-EU financial mechanism, since the budget is BGN 50 million. The NCTS did not achieve unanimous support on the draft Decree.
The social partners support the proposed measure with the exception of CITUB.
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