No agreement on minimum price of labour

BELGRADE - The members of the Social Economic Council of Serbia have not come to an agreement on the minimum price of labour for next year, Labour Minister Aleksandar Vulin said on Sunday.

"It means that the government will decide on it at one of its upcoming meetings," he told reporters after a meeting of the council.

The deadline for the council to agree on the price expires on Monday, he stated, adding that the government would decide at one of its future meetings what the minimum price of labour will be from January 1, 2015.

The trade unions and employers understand that the economic situation is not such that it is possible to meet all demands, and the government has to implement strict austerity measures, he stressed.

"The employers and trade unions have failed to reach an agreement. The Serbian government will do this according to law. Austerity is the government policy and it will be implemented on this decision," Vulin noted.

The Social Economic Council agreed on Sunday to form working groups that will establish the parametres that affect the minimmum price of labour, which are required by the labour law, he stated.

Head of the Confederation of Autonomous Trade Unions of Serbia Ljubisav Orbovic said the unions proposed RSD 137.9 as the minimum price of labour based on the provisions of the labour law.

The employers did not agree to this, while government officials had no proposal to present at the council meeting, he pointed out.

Head of the United Trade Unions Independence Branislav Canak said the failure in the negotiations on the minimum price of labout had shown that the recently adopted labour law had many unclear provisions.

"We claimed that when they...