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The Employers' associations that are involved in consultations with the Government and with the unions on the topic of the minimum wage for 2021 have requested the freezing of the minimum wage for the first six months of the next year, said, on Tuesday, State Secretary with the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Tudor Polak, during a debate organized by the Concordia Employers' Confederation, according to AGERPRES.
"For this year several scenarios were taken into account and I can tell you that I am looking with maximum disappointment on this legislative proposal that went yesterday through the Labor Committee, and I will tell you why: the European Directive does not impose an increase of the minimum salary that would reach to 60 pct, it's not an obligation from the EU. Moreover, from the discussions that the Government had with social partners on both sides, the calculation scenarios have varied: the formulas proposed by the Government were somewhere around 100, 150 RON or 200 RON calculated with a correction coefficient established by the economic increase or taking into account the productivity coefficient and the inflation rate of October, and I can tell you that the maximum figure that the union side requested for the salary increase for 2021 was 170 RON. On the other hand, all the social partners on the employers' side - today, actually, we had a National Tripartite Council meeting - requested the freezing of the minimum wage for a period of at least 6 months, until we see what will be the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic," stated Tudor Polak.
The State Secretary explained that the working group created this year at the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection for the implementation of a mechanism that would establish a method applicable in the long term to calculate the minimum wage has stopped its activity after at the level of the European Union discussions started regarding a directive regarding the minimum wage.
Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has said, during consultations he had on Monday with representatives of the National Tripartite Council for Social Dialogue, that the minimum gross wage nationally for 2021 will be increased depending on the evolution of the economy, according to a post on the Government's Facebook page.
On the other hand, the chair of the National Council of Small and Medium Private Enterprises (CNIPMMR), Florin Jianu, stated on Monday that the organization he represents agrees to an increase of the minimum wage from January 1 that would cover the inflation rate, namely 2.2 pct.
