State employee salaries to go up by 4%

Salaries of state employees and public sector employees will see a hike of 4 percent as of next year. On Wednesday representatives of employees and employers signed two collective agreements for 2016. "I appreciate that we managed to arrive at an agreement in a record-setting time. We have learned to communicate throughout all those long years, come to understand requests of one group and take into account options of the other in order to lead an effective social dialogue," Prime Minister Robert Fico said before signing the agreement. Fico pointed out that the salary hike will apply to, for instance, teachers, social workers, au-pairs, teaching staff at orphanages, nursing homes and social service facilities. According to Fico, most of these employees are underpaid. The salary raise is estimated to apply to more than 300,000 employees, according to Confederation of Labour Unions (KOZ) Vice-President Slavomír Manga, with costs to the public budget projected to equal €148 million.