Ildar Khalikov: Wages should increase alongside with increase in labour efficiency

On April 30, Tatarstan Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov met with activists of regional labour unions to discuss social and economic situation in Tatarstan and quality of life on the threshold of the holiday of spring and labour. Chairman of Tatarstan Federation of Labour Unions Tatyana Vodopyanova, heads of ministries and agencies took part in the event.

Opening the meeting, Tatyana Vodopyanova said that according to results of the year, in spite of difficult economic situation, Tatarstan remains the leading region in Volga Federal District and Russia. However, there are some problems to be solved. One of them is minimum wages. For the last five years, lagging of minimum wages behind living wage has increased eight times. This year in addition to price increase the increase in nominal and real wages has considerably slowed down.

Tatyana Vodopyanova continued that the situation in the sphere of occupational safety is extremely tense. About 100 people die in industrial accidents.

Telling about results of social and economic development of the republic in 2013, Ildar Khalikov noted the slowdown in economic growth after three years of dynamic development. He said that the amount of GRP exceeded 1 trillion 520 million roubles.

The Prime Minister also mentioned economic modernization of major enterprises, construction of new plants, creation of new infrastructure for development of small and medium-size business, and programmes on supporting investment projects.

Speaking about problems that arouse public opinion, Ildar Khalikov mentioned current situation in housing and utility sector, and asked labour unions to take an active part in discussing this problem.

Youth employment, support of single mothers, the problem of illegal transport carriers, jobs cuts in educational and agricultural sectors.