Public sector trade unionists discussed the draft Law on the unitary pay system in the budgetary sector

Today, October 31, at the headquarters of the Trade Union House, public debates took place on the draft Law on the unitary pay system in the budgetary system, with the participation of the representatives and leaders of the 5 trade union federations of the workers in the budgetary sector. Raisa Ghilan, the head of the Directorate on payroll policy and monitoring of employees in the budgetary sector of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Moldova, was invited to this event.

Sergiu Sainciuc, vice-president of the CNSM, said that the draft Law on the unitary pay system in the budgetary system is a very ambitious project, a long-awaited and necessary project, which should bring clarity to the salary system of the budgetary sector employees and ensure a fairness by establishing a unitary pay system. However, this project, said Sergiu Sainciuc, also contains some shortcomings to be eliminated. Therefore, today’s event is a good opportunity to identify the existing problems and to come up with suggestions to the authors for their solution.

In this regard, Vlad Canţîr, the president of the SINDASP Trade Union Federation of Public Services Employees, said that more time should be provided for public consultations with all the beneficiaries – central and local public authorities, because the project is complex and needs additional time to be examined to ensure a balance between pay levels for employees with analogous work conditions and to eliminate some of the deficiencies present in this document. He also expressed concern that local public servants might be disadvantaged as a result of the implementation of the existing draft Law on the unitary pay system in the budgetary system.

Aurel Popovici, the president of the Trade Union Federation of Health “SANATATEA”, pointed out that the project in question admits the possibility of large wage discrepancies in the country’s health system according to studies, and the remuneration of some public sector functions is not foreseen in this document. Moreover, certain provisions are against the Labour Code of the Republic of Moldova.

Raisa Ghilan mentioned that the current draft Law on the unitary pay system in the budgetary system, which was designed at the level of the Ministry of Finance, is to be modified and refined, so that any proposal made by trade union representatives, representing the employees of the budgetary sector, is welcomed and will be examined to eliminate potential shortcomings in the project. She stipulated that the elaboration of the respective project aimed to unify the entire salary system of the employees in the budgetary sector, and then, in the next 2-3 years, to increase the wages of all employees of the public sector of the country.

The National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova will present its opinion on the discussed draft Law.

Department of mass media and international relations of CNSM