Index – Economy – To date, no agreement has been reached on the 2021 minimum wage

No agreement has yet been reached on minimum salaryand the increase in the guaranteed minimum wage at the beginning of the year, after the last round of negotiations on December 30 did not yield results in the Permanent Consultation Forum between the three actors, government and interests of employers and workers, unions. Index.

The current status quo is unprecedented in Hungary’s history after the regime change, as it has never happened before that the minimum wage introduced in 1989 will not increase at the beginning of the year – he assessed the facts. László Kordás, President of the Hungarian Trade Union Confederation (MASZSZ). (The last time this happened was in 2000, at the time of the first Fidesz government, the then two-year budget).

And the unusual situation, which puts minimum wage workers in a very difficult situation, may have arisen mainly because the proposals of the unions representing them were not accepted by the government at all. At the last meeting at the end of last year, they weren’t open to anything

– László Kordás also said, who adds that they continue to fight despite everything.

The standard of living of almost a million Hungarians is declining

If an agreement is not reached in January, there are fears that the wages of the affected workers will depreciate beyond the official inflation rate. In other words, there is the possibility that the standard of living of those who work for the minimum wage will decrease significantly. Who, moreover, compared to the total number of four and a half million active domestic workers, are few, in fact.

Imre Palkovics, the president of the National Association of Workers’ Councils estimates that

and 600,000 additional skilled workers will receive the guaranteed minimum wage. The MASZSZ president, for his part, speaks of a millionaire stratum in the aforementioned salary category, whose members may now be at a great disadvantage.

Not to mention, if the minimum wage doesn’t increase in January at the end, it could automatically negatively affect state benefits tied to the minimum wage. These include, for example, various allowances, accident sickness benefits, a number of pension-type benefits, the amount of the allowance for job search, retirement, bankruptcy until the end of June, as well as other maternity benefits.

Exciting Czech, Slovak and Polish minimum wages

After the last increase from eight to eight percent, the relevant government decree set the amount of the minimum wage at 161 thousand HUF gross for 2020, and the guaranteed minimum wage at 210.6 thousand HUF gross. It is still for those who work more than 36 hours a week full time, that is, eight hours a week. (Based on last year, the hourly minimum wage adjusted to the minimum wage is HUF 926 gross.)

As for the continuation, the government always sets the date, but an invitation for the next meeting has not yet been received, said László Kordás, adding that they were working with the labor unions on a platform to turn around trends in the neighbor countries. mainly – the government.

• The Polish minimum wage will increase by 7.7 percent from 2021.
• For Slovaks, this increase is almost the same since the beginning of the year, 7.4 percent.
• The Czech minimum wage will increase by 4 percent.

If there is no agreement in January, there will be no increase, the purchase value of the net amount of the Hungarian minimum wage will be only half the Polish minimum wage and will reach a third of the Czech and Slovak minimum wage. Meanwhile, the inflation rate of the three countries mentioned is lower than that of Hungary, according to the calculations of the unions declaring the Index.

Zero florins minimum wage increase

The workers’ unions originally called for a ten percent increase in the gross minimum wage of HUF 16,100 at the beginning of negotiations. Later, in an effort to compromise, they lowered their expectations to five percent, 8,050 HUF gross. But the mistake, as they say, is largely based on the fact that while employers offer a three percent raise (4,830 HUF gross), the government does nothing.

“Regardless, the government could have made the decision to give lower-income workers a tax credit, so we can now shake hands. For example, it could have reduced the amount of the social contribution that we receive, which we think, as well as the entrepreneurs do not have to spend more on their subordinates this year ”, explains László Kordás.

Either way, they become World economy According to his information, the negotiations that will continue on Friday, to which the Minister of Innovation and Technology László Palkovics has given two or three more weeks, the unions do not want to release five percent. Especially after the Magyar Nemzeti Bank estimates that food prices may rise 4.6 percent this year.

At the same time, the president of the National Association of Workers’ Councils adds that, based on the current national growth rate of average income and how this changes the income situation of employees, the justified increase in the minimum wage in Hungary in 2021 it would still be around ten percent.

Book cover: Balogh Zoltán / MTI