Aleksey Pesoshin about trilateral agreement: For the first time ever, our minimum wage is based on the minimum consumer budget

On January 18, in the Government House of the republic, Tatarstan Prime Minister Aleksey Pesoshin, Chairman of Federation of Trade Unions of the republic Tatyana Vodopyanova, and Chairman of Coordination Council of Tatarstan Employers’ Associations Aleksandr Lavrentiev signed a trilateral agreement between Cabinet of Ministers of Tatarstan, Federation of Trade Unions of Tatarstan and Coordintation Council of Employers' Associations of Tatarstan on the minimum wage in Tatarstan.

Pesoshin reminded that the parties to the social partnership have signed such an agreement for the sixth time. The first document was signed in 2007, he added.

"At the moment, the agreement on the minimum wage amounting to 8,848 roubles for non-budget organizations, which was adopted in July 2017, is in force in the republic," Pesoshin reminded. "Increasing minimum guarantees in the field of remuneration of labour and wages of public sector employees in accordance with the May decrees of the President of Russia allowed us to ensure real wage growth in the republic."

Pesoshin continued that for 11 months of the current year the average monthly salary of employees at regional enterprises and organizations, including small business, amounted to 31,600 roubles and increased by 6.3 per cent as compared to the same period last year.

"Real wages also had positive dynamics, and their growth made 3.4 per cent," he said. ‘It is expected that following the results of 2017 the average monthly salary will exceed 32,000 roubles in the republic. "

Pesoshin said that Tatarstan has been consistently among the leaders and ranks second by the size of the average monthly salary among the regions of the Volga Federal District. 

The Prime Minister reminded that the federal law on fixing the minimum wage in the amount of 9,489 roubles per month was signed at the end of 2017. Starting from the 1st of January 2019, this figure will be equal to the size of the subsistence minimum of the working population in the whole country.

At the same time, Pesoshin said that the parties to the agreement suggested setting the minimum wage higher than the federal level in the republic. The regional employers supported the initiative of trade unions to increase minimum guarantees in the field of labor remuneration in the real sector of the economy.

"We have found an appropriate decision, which resulted in signing the today's agreement," Pesoshin summed up. “For non-budget employees it is proposed to set the minimum wage at the level of 10,126 roubles, which makes 70 per cent of the cost value of the minimum consumer budget in the whole country for the third quarter of 2017 ".

Thus, the republic will move to a different level of establishing minimum guarantees in the field of labor remuneration, the Prime Minister stated, adding that for the first time ever, the minimum wage is based on the minimum consumer budget. This is an important step in improving the living standards of the public, Pesoshin concluded.