“For many years there have been regular debates in which employers and unions have never been able to agree on the issue of raising the minimum wage. Then the government decided in the final, often until the end of the year,” commented Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Marian Jurečka (KDU-ČSL) on the change.
According to him, it was very difficult for the business sector to calculate the costs, when it often learned only in December about what the minimum wage should be.
At the same time, the European directive requires the Czech Republic to increase the minimum wage.
Abolition of guaranteed wages
In addition, the approved standard also abolishes guaranteed wage levels in private companies, which are a kind of minimum wages for individual professions. They will remain only in the public and state sectors, but even there their number will be reduced from eight to four.
This was one of the biggest targets of criticism. The Senate Constitutional and Legal Committee proposed that it also apply to employees in companies. He justified the adjustment by the trade unions’ fear that the abolition of the guaranteed wage in the private sector will lead to a reduction of wages in companies to the level of minimum wages. But that did not pass the Senate plenary session.
“I consider it very inconsistent that the salaries of employees in the public sector enjoy greater protection than the salaries of employees in the private sector, who, on the other hand, are very often in a significantly weaker position in negotiations,” criticized Senator Adéla Šípová (Pirates).
According to her, it can also cause a great imbalance in that people who work with the same competences in the same position in the private sector will not have the same legal protection as the same workers in the public sector.
“Guaranteed wages were introduced in a situation where some employees officially received only the minimum wage and the rest was paid in hand. This practice was corrected by the introduction of the institute of guaranteed wages. If we cancel them again in the private sector, we will return to this practice,” she added.
According to Jurečka, however, the cancellation of guaranteed wages will not harm employees in the private sector. “We will significantly help people by increasing the minimum wage at a significant rate. If there is an argument that the proposal could negatively affect people with low incomes, then I say that is not true. That would be true if we had 38 percent of the minimum wage compared to the average,” he said, adding that the increase in the minimum wage would also push up other incomes.
Twenty-four hour shifts
The amendment is also intended to enable the introduction of shifts of up to 24 hours for employees in medical facilities with continuous operation, for example in the emergency services. For such long shifts, they would receive a statutory supplement. Paramedics can now serve twenty-four hours a day. However, according to the legislation adopted last year, a shift can last no more than 12 hours, possibly followed by overtime work.
The amendment still needs to be signed by the president, so it could come into effect this year, with the exception of the provision that will allow employees to set their own working hours in shifts after agreement with the employer. There, validity is expected next year.
The minimum wage will rise sharply, doctors will serve longer, deputies decided
Economic