Trade unions call for wages claims guarantee fund

The Confederal Committee of the CNSM adopted today, 1 February, and asked the Parliament of RM to examine and support the draft Law on the establishment, operation and use of the Debt Guarantee Fund, from whose financial resources to make the payment of arrears of wages of the individual labour contracts and collective labour agreements concluded by the employees with the employers against whom court decisions were made for insolvency proceedings.

In particular, this fund is expected to pay overdue salaries; overdue leave entitlements due by employers for unused annual leave for up to 2 years of work; the outstanding compensations that employers are obliged to pay, under the collective and / or individual labour contract, in the case of work accidents, occupational diseases; outstanding payments for the period of technical unemployment.

According to the project, the Fund’s financial resources will consist of employers’ contributions, interest income, late payments for non-payment in due time of the contribution to the Guarantee Fund, amounts recovered from the debts created, and other sources admitted by law .

Sergiu Sainciuc, vice-president of the CNSM, explains that the Moldovan trade unions have drafted the law on the establishment, operation and use of the Wages Claims Guarantee Fund in order to eliminate the contradictions in the national legislation on wage protection in case of employer’s insolvency, or better said, in order to compensate for the lack of the appropriate framework in this respect. However, he points out, reality shows us that in most cases of insolvency proceedings of the economic unit, for years, employees cannot raise their wages, which is a flagrant violation of their rights. Since the proceeds from the commercialization of employers’ patrimony in insolvency are distributed to secured creditors, primarily to commercial banks.

Vice-president of CNSM also said that in many EU countries, such as Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and others, the legislation that protects employees in case of employer’s insolvency is already in operation. A wealthy experience has also accrued to other countries, such as Bulgaria, Armenia, Ukraine, etc., which have ratified the International Labour Organization’s Convention on the Protection of Employees in the event of the Insolvency of their Employers.

Department of mass media and international relations of CNSM