The Trade Union Confederation (KOZ) insists on its proposal to increase the minimum wage to €400 per month, with its head Jozef Kollár claiming on Tuesday that a person who works eight hours a day shouldn't earn an amount that is below the poverty level.
“This proposal postulates that after deductions into individual insurance funds are paid - i.e. social and health insurers - a person working for the minimum wage during standard working hours should receive a net monthly salary at the poverty level, which is €346.40”, said Kollár, adding that this is €41.60 more than the current net monthly minimum wage. “A minimum [gross] wage hike of €50 would be beneficial for the Government, which would collect more in taxes, as one half of this figure would go into deductions to the social and health insurers, while the Government would receive 20 percent of the remaining €25 in the form of VAT [thanks to extra spending on the part of the employee]”, said Engineering Industry Association (ZSP) vice-chairman Juraj Borgula. According to Borgula, there are no reasonable arguments for not increasing the minimum wage. Employers clustered in the Association of Employers’ Federations of the Slovak Republic however (AZZZ) do not agree that increasing the minimum monthly wage to €400 euro is a smart step in the light of the current economic situation. The association says that if overall costs are not reduced then the minimum wage hike is an absolute hazard.
