According to the sectoral collective agreement for 2007, pay rates of particular categories of public servants will increase by between 5% and 7% on 1 July 2007. These figures are lower than wage increases agreed in the collective agreement for 2006. However, a higher contribution to company social funds was agreed in the latest collective agreement. Moreover, according to the new terms, pay increases negotiated for 2008 will take effect earlier, on 1 January 2008.
New collective agreement
The sectoral collective agreement for public servants for 2007 was signed by five government ministers, the President of the Association of Municipalities of Slovakia (Združenie miest a obcí Slovenska, ZMOS) and the chairs of eight regional authorities, with representatives of the Confederation of Trade Unions (Konfederácia odborových zväzov Slovenskej republiky, KOZ SR) and the Independent Christian Trade Unions (Nezávislé kresťanské odbory Slovenska, NKOS).
The agreement sets out the legal framework for the employment and working conditions of more than 300,000 employees in Slovakia’s public sector. The agreement is binding for contributory organisations of the state, municipalities and regional authorities, public universities and other public institutions. It is also binding for bodies and organisations of the state administration where employees do not have civil servant status, as well as budgetary organisations of the state, municipalities and regional authorities. Provisions agreed in the new sectoral collective agreement also define issues and limits to be negotiated at the level of company collective bargaining in 2007.
Content of agreement
According to the new sectoral collective agreement, the basic scale of pay tariffs of public servants will increase by 7%. Special scales of pay tariffs of particular categories of public sector employees, for example university lecturers, researchers, school teachers and healthcare workers, will increase by 5%. Both of these pay rises are lower by one percentage point than the corresponding increases agreed in the sectoral collective agreement for 2006. The agreed pay rise will take effect from 1 July 2007.
The new agreement sets the same framework for working conditions in the public sector as did the previous collective agreement for 2006 (SK0602102N). The standard working time has not changed, remaining at 37.5 hours a week in single shift work. The agreement stipulates the same paid annual leave of five weeks, and maintains the additional sixth week of leave for those who have worked in service for more than 15 years.
Although the compulsory contribution of employers to the social fund has remained at the same level, at 1% of the total annual paybill, the additional contribution to the social fund can be increased by at least 0.25% in the company collective agreements. This proportion is five times higher than that agreed on in the sectoral collective agreement for 2006.
Commentary
According to the sectoral collective agreements concluded for 2005 and 2006, the agreed increases of public servants’ pay rates took effect on 1 July of the calendar year. The trade unions did not succeed in introducing an earlier date for the pay rise in 2007 (SK0612059I); however, the new agreement determines an earlier deadline for the next increase of pay rates in 2008. The memo attached to the agreement sets out that the increase of pay rates – which will be agreed in the sectoral collective agreement for 2008 – will take effect as of 1 January 2008. This shift in the pay increase date in effect will increase the annual income of public servants. On the other hand, it will also increase the burden on the state budget for 2008.
Ludovit Cziria, Institute for Labour and Family Research