Karnite, Raita

The operation of the Latvian civil service is governed by the State Civil Service Law and a range of specific laws. The State Civil Service Law distinguishes between 'general' and 'specialised' civil servants (LV0409104F [1]). The latter are those performing civil servant functions in the diplomatic and consular service, State Revenue Service (Valsts Ieņēmumu dienests, VID), State Police (Valsts Policija, VP), Security Police (Drošības Policija), Ministry of the Interior Liaison Centre and Information Centre, State Border Guard (Valsts Robežsardze), State Firefighting and Rescue Service (Valsts ugunsdzēsības un glābšanas dienests, VUGD), Prison Administration (Ieslodzījumu vietu pārvalde, IeVP) and State Forensic Expertise Bureau (Valsts tiesu ekspertīžu birojs). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/pay-determination-in-public-institutions

The operation and status of social dialogue in Latvia are enshrined in legislation and by an additional trilateral agreement which clearly defines the competencies of the parties. Nevertheless, the national-level social dialogue organisation, the National Tripartite Council (Nacionālās trīspusējās sadarbības padome, NTSP), has not been very active in 2005. In 2004, when the first signs of inactivity appeared, seven NTSP meetings took place, while only four meetings were held the following year, one of them being an extraordinary meeting.

The Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (Latvijas Brīvo Arodbiedrību savienība, LBAS) is the country's only national trade union centre (LV0403104F [1]) and the representative of workers' interests in national social dialogue structures (LV0510102F [2]). It has 24 member organisations at sectoral or occupational level, which group most of Latvia's 2,904 company-level trade union organisations. According to LBAS statistics, there were 157,800 employed members of its affiliated organisations as at 1 January 2005. This equals 15.5% of the total number of employed people and about 66% of the total employed in companies where there are trade union organisations. LBAS-affiliated unions had a total of 167,400 members, but 5.7% of these were unemployed. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/the-development-and-current-situation-of-trade-unions-0 [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/unions-and-employers-want-to-strengthen-national-tripartite-dialogue

The increase of the minimum wage is a constant theme of the debate among social partners in Latvia. In 2003, the agreement of social partners resulted in successful approval and adoption of the minimum wage increase concept, which provided for a strict minimum wage increase schedule, by the RL Cabinet of Ministers. According to this schedule, the minimum wage should reach a half of the gross monthly salary of the respective year.

In Latvia, the labour law and Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 206 of 28 May 2002, which regulate children’s employment, include prohibitions on employing teenagers in certain jobs, with exceptions permitting such employment in connection with professional training. The Cabinet of Ministers Regulation No. 205 of 28 May 2002 regulates the procedures for applying for permits to employ children - as contractors in cultural, artistic, sporting and advertising events, and includes provisions for attaching restrictions to any permits granted.

Bipartite and tripartite national social dialogue has a relatively solid basis in Latvia. A 'general agreement on the principles of social partnership' was concluded in 1996 between the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (Latvijas Brīvo Arodbiedrību savienība, LBAS) and the Latvian Employers’ Confederation (Latvijas Darba Devēju konfederācija, LDDK). In 1993, the cabinet adopted Regulation No. 70 on a 'concept for the main principles of tripartite cooperation', and by 1994 three tripartite cooperation councils had been established and started work. In 1998, the cabinet adopted a 'concept for tripartite cooperation at the national level' and reformed the existing social dialogue system, as a result of which the National Tripartite Cooperation Council (Nacionālās trīspusējās sadarbības padome, NTSP) and its secretariat were established, and four sub-councils were set up. The government is represented on the NTSP by the Ministry of Welfare, employees by LBAS and employers by LDDK. The current system seeks to be simple and transparent and to provide an effective decision-making process.

Modern social legislation has been introduced in Latvia and the necessary institutions have been established. Latvia’s Labour Law and its accompanying regulations have been harmonised with EU laws, and they even stipulate greater rights for workers than for employers. The State Labour Inspectorate (Valsts Darba inspekcija, VDI), the State Employment Agency (Nodarbinātības Valsts aģentūra, NVA), National Tripartite Cooperation Council (Nacionālās trīspusējās sadarbības padome, NTSP), and organisations representing workers and employers are all operating in Latvia.

At the end of July the Latvian Police Society (Latvijas Policistu biedrība, LPB) announced plans to hold a protest picket on the day the government considered amendments to the 2005 budget. Police officers had earlier tried unsuccessfully to defend their rights, including higher wages, through negotiations and by taking court action (LV0412101N [1]). The decision to take more radical action was reached after their employer - the state - was unable to fulfill a court ruling stipulating that state specialized service officials are entitled to the same general social guarantees as state civil service officials, including childbirth benefits, vacation money and compensation for overtime work. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/police-officers-seek-entitlement-to-benefits

On July 19 2005 the Republic of Latvia Cabinet of Ministers (Latvijas Republikas Ministru Kabinets) approved the fourth amendments to the Labor Law, which correct certain deficiencies within it. The amendments were also necessary in order to comply with the requirements of EU Directives 76/207/EEK, 2000/78/EK and 2002/73/EK.

The situation in the specialized civil service has continued to be tense since 2004. Due to lack of funding salaries of the employees of these services are low; their social rights are not observed. Under Latvian legislation salaries of civil servants are regulated by a system of laws which stipulates special provisions for the specialized civil service, but does not state whether the general civil service salary payment principles and social guarantees apply to the specialized civil servants. There was an assumption that the general social guarantees do not apply to specialized civil servants (police officers, firefighters and border guards), because the special laws regulating their work stipulated special guarantees - for working in dangerous conditions, allowances for families in the case of the death of the breadwinner, and others. The unclear situation and the fact that the special allowances were not paid led to protests by the police in 2004. The police officers considered that they are entitled to receive at least part of the general allowances, namely, the childbirth allowance and vacation allowance (LV0412101N [1]). [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/police-officers-seek-entitlement-to-benefits