They want to oblige employers to index salaries to inflation
Private and joint-stock businesses, which are “separated from the state”, live by their own financial rules, the main of which is: “Money in the pay fund no labor.» But there is inflation that devours our income. The Labor Committee of the State Duma proposes to oblige non-budgetary employers to index wages in accordance with the level of inflation. Why amend Art. 134 of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation.
It would seem that even such a demand is unnecessary. Inflation in the country is high, products, services, services — all this is pretty expensive. And this process, at least, should be compensated by the growth of salaries. But this is according to our primitive everyday logic, and in real life everything should have its own laws.
For public sector employees, as noted in many media, such wage indexation rules are spelled out. For this reason, they carefully, once a year, and increase their salaries. And non-budget workers are forgotten and abandoned by the state, the only hope is for the employer, who, as a rule, does not particularly strive to raise the level of well-being of his employees.
Hence the parliamentary initiative. Oblige — period! And it is right. If we add up inflation over the past 10 years, from 2012 to 2022, and index our average salary by its value, then over this period it would automatically increase by about 73%. Accurately doubled.
And everything would be according to the law. And there would be no discussions on the topic of increasing labor productivity, on which the growth of wages depends. And the eternal excuses of employers — that we work, they say, badly, not efficiently. But who is primarily to blame for this? Is it not the head of the company who cannot organize production?
Will the Duma's initiative be supported this time? Recall that legislators at the federal level periodically offer all sorts of improvements that make life easier for the population. But, alas, they remain without an answer and greetings from the authorities. Yes, and employers who “squeeze” salaries can also be understood. In order to increase the minimum wage from 2024, they need to find an additional 45 billion rubles. They won't fall from the sky to private business — that's for sure.
Will private business take it up a notch if the necessary amendments are made to the Labor Code? Former Deputy Minister of Labor of the Russian Federation Pavel Kudyukin, who knows this code by heart, took with some surprise another Duma initiative. It turns out that the relevant norms on the indexation of salaries are already in the law, they have been written down for a long time.
— That's just for them the wording is very vague. They do not fix the obligation of the employer, since it is assumed that the level of indexation is determined by the decision of the authorities of the federal, regional or municipal level.
As for the non-budgetary sphere, everything is very clear — at least once a year by the amount of inflation.
— Very serious, in terms of labor relations, he is the second after the Constitution of the Russian Federation. However, this circumstance is not an obstacle to its mass violations.
— Most likely, in the conclusion of the legal department of the State Duma or the government they will write that this initiative duplicates an already existing norm, therefore, it is inappropriate.
— You can sue him. But for this, he must give an official answer that he refuses to index the salary and indicate for what reasons. A court decision is possible in favor of employees if they dare to file a lawsuit against the employer. Or if the trade union in the fight against him goes on principle. Which is unlikely.
— We have a very weak law enforcement mechanism. There are rules, but they don't work. The Federal Labor Inspectorate is weak and not authoritative, the courts are overloaded, trade unions often take positions of conciliation with the employer.
— In some companies it is indexed, in some it is indexed partially, not completely volume. Even if there is a strong trade union and if this indexation is spelled out in the collective agreement. Now the federal union of air traffic controllers is suing the employer over the fact that wages have been raised below the level of inflation. Much depends on the union.