In a week, the Senate will decide on an amendment to the Labor Code, which will establish rules for raising the minimum wage and the possibility of up to twenty-four-hour shifts for health workers.
He should also approve the electoral amendment on the introduction of a correspondence form of voting for Czechs living abroad, even though this proposal is not yet in the draft program. Both legal adjustments, however, according to program before Thursday’s meeting of the upper parliamentary chamber, its committees or commissions will discuss.
According to the amendment to the Labor Code, the minimum wage should rise to 47 percent of the average wage by 2029. It is now at 41.1 percent and has grown to 18,900 crowns since January. From next year, guaranteed wages according to expertise, responsibility and demanding work are to apply only to the public sector, which the trade unions do not like. They fear a reduction in income growth for many workers and a decline in their standard of living. According to an earlier statement by the chairman of the Czech-Moravian Confederation of Trade Unions, Josef Středula, the elimination of the lowest guaranteed earnings would lead to a drop in wages and the expansion of the gray economy.
The amendment is also intended to enable the introduction of shifts of up to 24 hours for employees in medical facilities with continuous operation, for example in the emergency services. By law, for such long shifts, they would receive a supplement of at least 20 percent of average hourly earnings for salaried employees and 20 percent for fixed-salary employees. Paramedics can now serve twenty-four hours a day. However, according to the legislation adopted last year, a shift can last no more than 12 hours, possibly followed by overtime work.
The electoral amendment envisages that Czechs living abroad will probably already be able to vote by post in next year’s parliamentary elections and will not have to go to embassies in person as before. The Senate, which in the past repeatedly strove for a postal election for expatriates, will probably support this coalition arrangement.
Source: zpravy.tiscali.cz
