Minister: Demands by Workers for Security, Fair Wages Still Topical
Labour, Family and Social Affairs Minister Marjeta Cotman said on Wednesday that demands by workers for a secure, humane and justly rewarded work are still topical in her Labour Day address.
The rights that workers fought for 100 and more years ago are now enshrined in legislation. "Solidarity allowed the workers to enforce an eight-hour working day and basic work-related rights," she said.
But the other demands are still topical, making 1 May an important holiday. "We are seeking a suitable compromise between the needs of the economy...and the security of workers".
"This concern stems from the historical security of Europe that has for a long time been protecting the rights of its citizens. And this means that we have not forgotten the importance of workers and their needs. The importance and the role of the worker in the society is in reality greater than ever before," Cotman said.
She pointed to the numerous government measures aimed at boosting competitiveness and flexibility in employment and maintaining social security and providing access to the labour market to those facing exclusion.
She said the government's achievements included: a boost for the status of pensioners with the indexation of pensions to wages, an increase in child allowance and the minimum wage, free meals for secondary school students, subsidies for employment and other measures aimed at improving the economic and social position of the people.
The employers should also be mindful of wages, especially those employers that make profits on the back of workers making the minimum wage. All full-time employees should be paid adequately to be able to live decently, she said.
A public statement was also issued today by opposition Zares president Gregor Golobic, who said that Labour Day in Slovenia was no longer an occasion for singing praises to labour and for painting a bright future, but was rather a reason to reflect on an ever lower participation of workers in the fruits of progress and economic growth.
According to him, the workers' readiness to contribute to the competitiveness of the economy has not been matched by employers, whose engaging in stupendous prizes and severance packages is testimony that that the key players of reckless capitalism are losing their minds.
Concern was also expressed by the opposition Lipa Party, with MP Barbara Zgajner Tavs telling the press that the number of workers with minimum wage was increasing in Slovenia. Zgajner Tavs also pointed out that the minimum net wage of EUR 399 was set below the 2005 poverty threshold of EUR 466.
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