Unions protest over low pay and plan to extend working hours

Dissatisfied with unreasonably low wages and employers’ proposals to extend allowable working hours, the Lithuanian trade union confederations held a protest action on 10 November 2006. As part of the initiative, they presented their demands for stronger social guarantees for employees to employer and government representatives.

Although average wages have recently been increasing rapidly in Lithuania, at about 10% per year on average, pay levels remain low; in the second quarter of 2006, the average monthly gross wage amounted to LTL 1,520 (€441) in Lithuania. Moreover, in September 2006, the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (Lietuvos pramonininku konfederacija, LPK) approached the government of the Republic of Lithuania (Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybe, LRV) with a proposal to increase allowable working hours up to 60 hours per week (LT0610019I).

European salary for Lithuanian employees

Dissatisfied with the existing situation, on 10 November 2006 the three national trade union confederations – the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (Lietuvos profesiniu sajungu konfederacija, LPSK), the Lithuanian Labour Federation (Lietuvos darbo federacija, LDF) and the Lithuanian Trade Union ‘Solidarity’ (Lietuvos profesine sajunga ‘Solidarumas’) – held a protest action entitled ‘European salary for Lithuanian employees’.

According to the organisers of the initiative, the key reasons for holding the protest are low wages that do not match the economic potential of the country and also the LPK’s proposal to increase allowable working hours from 48 hours to 60 hours per week. According to the Deputy Chair of LPSK, Algirdas Kvedaravicius, in Lithuania low wages are conditioned by unwillingness on the part of employers to share added value with employees. Mr Kvedaravicius argues that ‘wages should be linked to the economic results of the company’s activities. Every company should have an explicit payroll system’.

In October 2005, LPSK had filed a petition to the government on low wages and living conditions in Lithuania (LT0511101N).

Protest demands

About 1,000 participants joined the protest action on 10 November 2006. The demonstration started at the head office of LPK and then moved on to the government building. The trade union confederations drew up a series of requirements and presented them to the representatives of employers and the government.

The protesters asked the government to commit to the following measures:

• reject the proposal to extend weekly working hours;

• set a minimum monthly wage of LTL 700 (€203), with effect from 1 January 2007;

• fix a statutory minimum wage, which should not be less than 50% of the national average wage, and stipulate the implementation procedure;

• set the individual tax-free allowance at the level of the minimum wage, with effect from 2008;

• ensure that wage-related clauses in collective agreements provide for the procedure of remuneration for work, wage rates per occupation and position as well as qualification requirements, in addition to rating procedures for jobs and workers; wage values should be established in accordance with the complexity of work and employees’ work performance; and the minimum wage should only apply to unskilled work;

• set the base wage value applied for official remuneration in the public service to the minimum wage level, and rearrange the system of remuneration for workers employed in the public sector under employment contracts;

• apply differentiated income tax rates for individuals;

• increase pensions and scholarships as well as other social benefits/allowances in line with the increases in heating energy costs and other prices.

The protesters addressed five demands to LPK and the Lithuanian Business Employers’ Confederation (Lietuvos verslo darbdaviu konfederacija, LVDK), specifically to**:**

• abandon their proposal to extend the maximum weekly working hours;

• adhere to the agreement of 13 June 2005 between employer organisations and trade unions, and apply the methodology for the evaluation of jobs and positions, as approved in that agreement, within LPK and LVDK member companies (LT0507101N);

• match wages and wage growth with the company’s economic performance;

• conclude collective agreements at all LPK and LVDK member companies;

• simplify the procedure for going on strike (LT0510102F).

Views of social partners

In the opinion of the trade unions, implementation of the above requirements would ensure dignified living conditions for employees and their families in Lithuania, and would prevent the economic emigration of the population. Representatives of both the employers and the government, who received the demands, promised to consider them and to start negotiations on their implementation.

Inga Blažiene, Institute of Labour and Social Research