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We remind you that according to the Government’s decision, starting next year the MMA should increase from 607 to 642 euros, and the minimum hourly wage – from 3.72 to 3.93 before taxes. The Labor Code stipulates that the minimum can only be paid for unskilled work.
However, after approving the new sizes, the government still had the opportunity to review them, as long as it was agreed to in a Tripartite Council made up of representatives of workers, employers and authorities. However, this is almost impossible, as unions are pushing for MMA to be increased and employers’ organizations urge them not to increase them due to the negative effects of the coronavirus on the economy.
However, this issue was formally on the agenda of the next meeting of the Tripartite Council.
For example, Zita Sorokienė, director of the Lithuanian Association of Small Entrepreneurs and Traders, publicly discussed that a lower minimum could be paid in the regions.
Without silencing the discussions, economist Raimondas Kuodis also expressed his position on MMA. In your opinion, this size could differ for different groups of workers.
“For the hundredth time: MMA must be differentiated by age, not by region. First of all, the age of the employee is an immutable characteristic, unlike the place of registration of the company.
Second, the youngest (highest) part of the salary is paid for training and work experience, so a uniform MMA is not financially justified. Third, it would give flexibility to companies that balance on the MMA limit, ”Kuodis commented on his personal Facebook account.
The salary of young people is lower but higher than ours.
In fact, as commenters have commented in the post below, a similar minimum wage is set in some countries.
For example, in the United Kingdom (United Kingdom), as of this April, the usual minimum hourly wage is £ 8.72 or the Bank of Lithuania’s official rate of € 9.63 (or more than € 1,540 a month working 40 hours a week).
For workers aged 21 to 24, the minimum wage (converted to euros) is € 9.05, for workers aged 18 to 20 € 7.12 and for those under 18 € 4.91 (€ 1 per hour more than guaranteed for adult Lithuanians).
A similar system applies in Ireland. As of this February, the minimum normal hourly wage here is € 10.10 (at least € 1,616 per month working a normal 40-hour week). At that time, children under the age of 18 are only 70 percent guaranteed. of this amount or 7.07 EUR.
Andrius Romanovskis, President of the Lithuanian Business Confederation, supports the idea that the minimum should also be differentiated according to the age of employees in Lithuania.
“It just came to our attention then. It is a pity that it reaches us through discussions on Facebook and not through official proposals from the Bank of Lithuania or the Government. It seems to me that we have to bring and adapt the British or Irish experience with us and not reinvent the wheel. We have listened to the proposal, I hope that the Government and its partners will also listen to it, “he told the tv3.lt portal.
It depends on the area in which the young person works
Danukas Arlauskas, president of the Lithuanian Employers’ Confederation (GDL), would also agree that the MMA would differ based on the age of employees.
“I was also a supporter of this differentiation. But in 20 years, the situation is changing very strongly. Sometimes those seventeen or eighteen are more valuable workers, especially in these new areas of the economy.
If we are talking about unskilled work, as is the case in Lithuania according to the Labor Code, then yes. They really don’t have a qualification and they can’t have it, because it takes time ”, commented D. Arlauskas.
According to him, unlike Lithuania, in other countries the size of MMA is not related to the qualification of employees.
“Again, we must appreciate that in the current period, it has already been officially established that four sectors (transportation, catering, light industry and tourism) are strongly affected by the coronavirus restrictions. So we talked about it in the Tripartite Council.
It is clear that those sectors will not recover next year. And what good is raising the minimum wage if, apparently, there will be downtime again and all those costs will have to be covered by the state budget. Therefore, wouldn’t it be more prudent to determine that in extreme cases this MMA could also be reduced for individual sectors ”, explained the head of the GDL.
He also drew attention to another issue: the state of companies and employee salaries in different regions of the country. For example, if the average salary in the Taurage region is only 60 percent. national average, it is clear that companies there do not generate much value.
“It is again a question of whether those companies can pay MMA, which will be almost as much as the average salary in the region. There are many more questions, but as a small step, I would certainly support Mr. Kuodis’s proposal, because age also has some importance for unskilled work.
It is simply not possible to acquire skills in a very short time, whether for a novice bricklayer or a plasterer, when a person has no education or theoretical knowledge, ”summarized D. Arlauskas.
Trade unions: smells of discrimination
Inga Ruginienė, President of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK), takes a different position on the differentiation of MMA according to the age of the employees.
“I have heard several ideas about how the minimum wage should be differentiated: by region, by age, etc. It’s good not to be by gender yet. In fact, we say no because it smells of age discrimination.
If entrepreneurs want to differentiate themselves, they can do so by sector. Indeed, Europe has good practices, especially the Scandinavians, who enter into sectoral agreements. The possibilities of each sector are simply evaluated and the minimum wage is determined according to them ”, said I. Ruginienė.
According to her, this is already offered by unions more than once, only employers say they do not want to do it.
“Unskilled work is currently so poorly paid in Lithuania that it would probably be difficult to find an analogue. When considering a uniform minimum wage mechanism, Europe speaks of a minimum wage of at least 50% of the national average wage, and we are still only about 47 percent. and we dispute it.
That threshold is so low that whether you’re in your 20s or 50s, no one is worth just minimum wage. And the salary even for unskilled work should be much higher ”, the LPSK director is convinced.
According to her, such ideas are reminiscent of the 10% proposal. the grain is divided into smaller parts. It would be unfair to any employee, regardless of age, gender or education.
“Agree that Lithuania cannot be combed according to one sector or another. Yes, in fact, several sectors have been affected during the crisis and we recognize it. But perhaps then the financial assistance mechanisms should be directed to those sectors. Perhaps. there are other ways to help and support them to recover.
However, it is certainly not in accordance with the general indicators that are relevant for the whole of Lithuania and perhaps even for those sectors that live well and still have higher profits precisely because of the crisis. So why should we “cross” the size set for all of Lithuania? “- asked I. Ruginienė rhetorically.
She challenged the argument that perhaps a lower MMA would encourage employers to hire more young people, whose unemployment is generally higher than for workers in other age groups.
“It’s strange that the incentive to hire is a low salary. It seems to me that I have to pay a higher salary and thus encourage the young people themselves to come to work. When you talk to employers they tell you: full of jobs, lack of employees “It’s impossible to find them, they don’t come, they don’t want to work. Maybe people don’t come because they not only pay them a small salary, but they also cheat,” said the interviewee.
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