Karnite, Raita

On 25 July 2007, newspapers in Latvia broke the news that postal workers are preparing to take strike action in demand of a doubling of their salary levels.

At the end of May and beginning of June 2007, extensive public debate took place regarding the issue of illegal payments in the healthcare sector. The discussion was triggered by media reports that the new President of Latvia, Valdis Zatlers, who previously worked as a director and doctor at a state hospital, had received ‘thank-you payments’ from his patients.

On 20 June 2007, at the meeting of the National Tripartite Cooperation Council (Nacionālās trīspusējās sadarbības padome, NTSP [1]), the social partners agreed on the regular increase of salary standards. The social partners with equal representation at the NTSP included the government, the Latvian Employers’ Confederation (Latvijas Darba Devēju konfederācija, LDDK [2]), the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (Latvijas Brīvo Arodbiedrību savienība, LBAS [3]) and the Latvian Association of Local and Regional Governments (Latvijas Pašvaldību savienība, LPS [4]). [1] http://www.mk.gov.lv/lv/mp/vaditas-padomes/ntsp/ [2] http://www.lddk.lv/index.php?lang=2 [3] http://www.lbas.lv [4] http://www.lps.lv/jaunumi.php?lang=en

The State Labour Inspectorate (Valsts Darba Inspekcija, VDI [1]), which is the state supervisory and control institution responsible for labour protection in Latvia, reports that despite a developed legislative basis, labour protection rules are at best formally implemented. With increasing economic activity, the number of workers who have had accidents in the workplace, and the number of deaths arising from workplace accidents, have increased over the past few years. This worsening situation has forced the government to seek improvements in the current occupational health and safety strategy. [1] http://www.vdi.lv/

The security company Falck Apsargs is a subsidiary of the worldwide Group 4 Securicor (G4S [1]) and one of the leading companies in the Latvian security industry. G4S was established on 20 July 2004, following the merger of Group 4 Falck and Securicor. Established in Denmark in 1906, Falck is the oldest G4S company. In the Baltic states, G4S operates under the name Falck Baltics and includes three companies: Falck Eesti [2] in Estonia, Falck Security [3] in Lithuania and Falck Apsargs [4] in Latvia. [1] http://www.g4s.com/ [2] http://www.falck.ee/ [3] http://www.falck.lt/index.php?language=en [4] http://www.falck.lv/

The project on Social Dialogue Capacity Building at sectoral and company levels is a follow-up of a similar project held at a national level in 2005. The methodology used included carrying out interviews with members of the nationally recognised representative organisations of employers and employees in the eligible countries – Latvia in this case - and collecting their views of the capacity of their members' organisations. The report reflect their views for the sectoral/branch- and enterprise-level developments.

In 2005, the government and the Education and Science Workers’ Trade Union (Latvijas Izglītības un zinātnes darbinieku arodbiedrība, LIZDA [1]) agreed on the scheme of salary increases for employees in the education sector (LV0409102F [2], LV0512103F [3], LV0408103F [4], *LV0609019I* [5]). The agreement aimed to ensure that teachers’ salaries are no lower than the average salary of public sector employees with similar qualifications. Up to now, the government has only just complied with the agreed salary increase schedule. Despite the teachers’ protests and threats of industrial action, the government has continued trying to postpone or reduce the regular salary increase. The situation was further aggravated by the fact that, in 2006, the government considerably increased the salaries of a number of public-sector employees, including university lecturers and scientists. This increased the differentials between salaries and increased the average public sector salary by more than had been planned in the scheme approved by the government and teachers. Furthermore, the agreement had not taken into account the high prevailing rate of inflation in Latvia: it stood at stood at 6.2% in 2004, 6.7% in 2005, 6.5% in 2006 and 7.8% in February 2007. [1] http://www.lizda.lv/ [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/new-rules-introduced-on-teachers-pay-and-qualifications [3] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/unions-call-for-renewed-social-dialogue [4] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/education-workers-pay-remains-controversial [5] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/education-and-science-workers-granted-pay-increase

On 6 March 2007, the Latvian government adopted an action plan in an effort to reduce the country’s rate of inflation. The inflation reduction plan stipulates that salaries of public-sector employees are not to be further increased, except for representatives of specific professions (for which agreements have already been signed). Prior to these measures, the government had, by way of exception, increased salaries for a number of public-sector employee categories. Some of these pay rises, for instance in the field of culture, were the result of pre-election promises made by the winners of the parliamentary election in 2006. Other salary increases, such as those for employees in the police and fire services, are the result of extended industrial action (LV0610029I [1]), where the trade unions played a significant role in securing the pay increase. As a result, salary increases across the public sector differ substantially between professions. This situation has caused protests from the employees concerned. [1] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/new-agreement-provides-wage-increase-for-police-employees

On 19 December 2006, Latvia’s parliament passed the ‘Amendments to the education law’ as an urgent policy measure. The amendments annul the previously stipulated provision of the law that the minimum full-time wage for teachers with the lowest professional qualification level may not amount to less than two minimum monthly wages.

On 17 November 2006, the Cabinet of Ministers (Latvijas Republikas Ministru kabinets [1]) adopted Regulation No. 858, providing for the largest increase in the minimum wage since 1990 (*LV0607029I* [2]). A number of months later, on 1 January 2007, the minimum wage was increased by 33% from €128 to €170 a month. [1] http://www.mk.gov.lv/en/?lang=1 [2] www.eurofound.europa.eu/ef/observatories/eurwork/articles/government-to-increase-tax-free-allowance