The Estonian Confederation of Trade Unions (EAKL) will gather on Tuesday, 10 June at 9am together with other workers' representatives in front of the Riigikogu in Lossi Square to inform the members of parliament and the employees of the Riigikogu about the problem areas of the draft amendment to the Employment Contracts Act.
The rally will last until 10.30 a.m., after which the EAKL will hand over the campaign "STOP the amendments to the Employment Contracts Act!" to the Riigikogu Board. will then hand over the protest signatures collected on paper. The signatures collected during the same campaign in the online platform rahvaalgatus.ee were presented to the Riigikogu by EAKL leader Kaia Vask already on Friday, 6 June.
Kaia Vask stresses that a worker's income should not be like a weather forecast - one day it works, the next it doesn't. "We cannot allow a situation where, under the guise of a flexible working arrangement, a worker's life is ruled by floating hours and a casual salary prescribed by the boss. Employees need to know how many hours they are working and how much pay they can expect to receive next month," says Vask, opening up the trade unions' position.
The aim of the meeting is to explain the possible consequences of the government's plan to members of the Riigikogu and the public. The introduction of a "flexible working time agreement" could increase workers' insecurity, undermine their trust in the government and put thousands of people's incomes at risk.
Minister ignores crisis of confidence
Despite public opposition from 21 Estonian trade union confederations and workers' associations, and the intervention of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), the Minister for Economic Affairs and Industry continues to claim that trade unions have been involved in the discussion of the draft. In reality, all the amendments made to the draft this year have only reached the trade unions after they were made public in the media.
The Minister has also publicly stated that no new collective agreements will be concluded in the public sector during his term of office. This indicates a deliberate blocking of social dialogue and calls into question the achievement of the target set by the EU Minimum Wage Directive to increase the share of workers covered by collective agreements in Estonia to 80%.
Trade unions want the procedure on the draft to be closed and a substantive debate launched
Under the government-initiated amendment to the Employment Contracts Act, a worker would be guaranteed only ten hours of work a week. The remaining up to 30 hours would depend on the employer's wishes and possibilities, which would mean unilateral prescription and shifting the entrepreneurial risks onto workers.
According to the EAKL, the main risks for workers in the draft are:
Employees cannot refuse to do work that has already been agreed, and must always be 'on standby' to take on extra work. And at the same time, bear the company's losses due to the recession or mismanagement.
The Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions stresses that labour legislation must be the result of an agreement between the social partners, not a unilateral and hasty decision by the government. To date, the drafting process has created a serious crisis of confidence between the government and trade unions.
In addition, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has intervened by sending formal appeals to both the Estonian Prime Minister and the European Commission. The ETUC considers the Estonian government's actions to be contrary to the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights and the ILO.
Based on the foregoing, the Estonian Trade Union Confederation together with 21 workers' representative organisations calls on the members of the Riigikogu to suspend the procedure of the draft Employment Contracts Amendment Act (602 SE) and restore workers' trust in the government through honest and meaningful cooperation.
"STOP the changes to the Employment Contracts Act!" can be found on rahvaalgatus.ee.
