21 minutes agoWhat happened to the Bill on the minimum wage
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)The bill, which would pave the way for the rise in Kosovo's minimum wage, has remained where it was in June, adopted in the first reading. To enter into force, it must also pass the second and third readings in the Kosovo Assembly and be signed by the country's president. By regulations [...]
To enter into force, it must also pass the second and third readings in the Kosovo Assembly and be signed by the country's president.
Under the Parliament's regulation, after adopting the first reading, the bill must be processed in second reading within two to three months, but this has not happened.
No media interest has been responded to by Armendi Muja, chairman of the Commission for Business, Work and Transfera, which the Parliament's regulation charges with further review of the Bill for the minimum wage.
The minimum wage in Kosovo is currently 130 to 170 euros.
This value, unchanged since 2011, is the lowest in Europe, according to the European Statistics Agency, Eurostat.
The new bill envisions it growing to 264 euros gross, or 250 euros, net.
“has passed every time”
Ferat Shala, a member of the Commission for Business, Labour and Transfere, says that, following the adoption of the first-read bill, no other step has been taken.
We don't have second reading. It has already passed every possible opitmal”, says Shala, the opposition MP in the Kosovo Assembly.
He recalls that the bill in question has caused dissatisfaction from the beginning and says that this may be the reason why the government “scrap”.
The government, apparently, is still unclear for its institutional steps and [the project] we do not yet have in our second reading”, Shala says.
The bill has been rejected by some opposition parties, which have demanded that the net minimum wage be raised to 370 euros.
The bill, too, does not envision the connection of minimum wage to the pension of war veterans as it currently is.
If approved as it is, veterans will continue to receive a pension worth 170 euros. For that reason, veterans have protested several times.
From the Kosovo Democratic Institute, which monitors the work of the Kosovo Assembly, they say there is no controlling mechanism that would impose the commissions to respect the deadlines for reviewing the bills.
“Unacceptable Neglect”
According to a study by the Institute for Advanced GAP Research published in April, there are over 100,000 workers in Kosovo who receive minimum wage.
Over 94 percent of them are employed in the private sector, mainly in majority and retail trade, in processing industries, gastronomics, financial and insurance activities, constructionists, and others.
Private Sector Workers Union Chairman Yusuf Azemi says workers in this sector remain forgotten by the state.
The neglect being made to this bill is unacceptable. Private sector workers continue to receive the lowest minimum wage in the region, and at the widest of”, says Azemi, writes the REL.
In Kosovo, the biggest employer is the private sector, with more than 220 thousand employed. The average gross salary in this sector is around 380 euros.
In the public sector, meanwhile, over 80 thousand people are employed, with an average gross salary of around 620 euros.
According to data from the Kosovo Statistics Agency, unemployment in the country last year has been brought between 20.5 percent and 25.8 percent.
The inflation rate, according to the AK, has reached 11.6 per cent in November.
In recent years, Kosovo is also facing a lack of workers of various profiles.
The citizens' interest in working, especially in the private sector, has declined for several reasons. According to the Labour Inspectorate, they are related to low wages, lack of contract, work at the weekend, non-paying extra hours, and more.
