Trade unions willing to compromise in labor law talks

NOVI SAD – Trade unions’ representatives are willing to loosen up a little in their current talks with social partners on amendments to Serbia’s labor law, but only to the extent they deem not damaging to the unions' members interests, Chairman of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Vojvodina (SSSV) Goran Milic said Wednesday.

The trade unions' platform for the labor law negotiations “contains certain concessions based on the reality on the ground, and that is the ‘red line’ below which we will not go,” Milic, who is on the unions’ negotiating team, told a press conference in Novi Sad.

Milic said that the unions’ entered into the negotiations with their social partners - employers and representatives of competent ministries - in an attempt to strike a compromise, adding that the unions are willing to make concessions in five areas.

The trade unions have proposed that the minimum wage is to be no lower than 70 percent of the minimum consumer goods basket, while the labor law in force stipulates that the minimum wage shall be set by the working hour, a decision by Serbia’s Social and Economic Council.

Milic said that no agreement has been reached on this point yet, but it has been agreed that the minimum wage be set once a year and no later than October 31, to facilitate budget planning.

When it comes to fixed-term employment, the trade unions have proposed that the employer should be able to conclude such a contract with up to 20 percent of the employees, for a period which, with or without interruptions, shall not be prolonged beyond 24 months, instead of 12 months as under the current law.

In certain cases, such as when there is a need to substitute someone for a...