I N F O R M A T I O N
On June 27 at a meeting of the Executive committee of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia the position of the CTUA with respect to the RA Law "Funded Pensions" was discussed and it was decided to send a letter to the National Assembly and the Government of the Republic of Armenia.
On July 10 the CTUA appealed with a letter to the chairman of the National Assembly and the Prime Minister of the RA. It was mentioned that the existing social - economic situation does not provide a decent life for a large part of workers. Despite the youth protests, mandatory component of funded pension was adopted, which led to even more intense social-economic situation. While adopting the law the minimum consumer requirements of the population were not taken into consideration.
The CTUA also mentioned that the country has not implemented the requirements of Article 34 of the Constitution of the RA, which states that "everyone has the right to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including to housing, and the right to improve working conditions. The State shall take the necessary measures for realization of this right of the citizens". But no legal act defines the conception "an adequate living standard" and the mechanisms of realization of the right to this standard of living for everyone.
According to the Law of the RA "On the minimum consumer basket and the minimum consumer budget" composition and structure of the minimum consumer basket per capita since 2004 should be calculated at least once every three years in accordance with the procedure established by the RA Government and based on the guidelines, which are not approved up today.
In the second part of Article 7 of the same Act it is stated that the ratio of minimum wages, pensions, benefits and other social payments and size of the minimum consumer budget should be reflected annually in the RA Law "On the State Budget."
The Republic of Armenia ratified ILO Convention 131 "On the establishment of the minimum wage" in 2004 and committed itself to calculate the minimum wage in accordance with the requirements of this Convention - namely, when calculating the minimum wage to take into consideration the needs of workers and their families, taking into account the general level of wages and the minimum consumption costs adopted by the country . However, until now the mechanisms of minimal wages calculation were not defined. The requirements of the Labor Code of RA art.182 - "indexation of wages is carried out in accordance with the legislation of RA” are not taken into account either.
On April 27, 2009 The Republican collective agreement between the Government, the Confederation of Trade Unions of Armenia and the Republican Union of Employers was signed, which remains in force until 2015. The parties agreed that "the draft normative legal acts containing norms of labor law and which are essential for the protection of labor rights and interests of employers and employees are submitted to the Republican Tripartite Commission for consideration before its approval by the correspondent authorities."
However, five laws on amendments to the RA Law "On the minimum wage," the changes in the law "On the Funded Pensions", as well as government decision on the reorganization of the State Labor Inspectorate of the RA adopted after 2009 have been confirmed without submission to the Republican Tripartite Commission.
These problems have been repeatedly voiced by the CTUA at different levels, a letter was sent to the Prime Minister, but no measures still have been taken.
In the conclusion, it was said that the CTUA expects that the Armenian government will take appropriate steps in drafting the law of satisfactory living standard and wage indexation, on the mechanisms of the definition of the minimum wage, on the provisions of the law "On minimum consumer basket and the minimum consumer budget” that will definitely promote the development of a legal and social state.
