Employment compensation

The communist-leaning PAME trade union has announced that it will hold a rally at Syntagma Square on Monday to demand the abolition of  "anti-worker" legislation and the reinstatement of collective bargaining.

In a statement on Friday, the union said it is demanding a minimum wage of 751 euros and increases in wages, pensions and social benefits.

Protesting workers at the Babino pit, Bobov Dol mine, have been denied payment of salaries unless they sign an agreement with their employer, private NOVA TV station has announced.

The Bulgarian government has approved amendments to the Labour Code which ensure better protection for Bulgarian workers sent on working trips in the EU, reported the press centre of the Council of Ministers.

An independent panel of social security experts has proposed a new minimum salary of 527.40 euros for the first year at work and of 556.70 euros for the second.

This is an increase from the 511 euros that applies today for people aged up to 25 years old and represents the first time a link between the minimum wage and workers' experience has been proposed.

BELGRADE - Serbia has been struggling for six years to put in place a law on free legal aid, which is one of the requirements for progress in its EU accession negotiations. The law will be adopted by the end of 2016 and implemented in 2018, the justice ministry told EurActiv Serbia.

Parliament adopted the amendments to the Ministry of Interior Act on Thursday.

Before Parliament's second reading, the Interior Ministry withdrew several of its key proposals.

As before, at retirement, employees will continue to receive compensation of up to 20 monthly wages. Paid annual leave continues to be 30 days and will not be reduced by 5 days as envisaged.

OAEE, the social security fund for the self-employed, has seen its deficit increase and is again asking for additional financing via the special reserves of the Social Security Capital for the Solidarity of Generations (AKAGE).

The International Committee of experts suggests scheduled reductions, as well as flexible contracts, the so-called “zero hour contracts”, with an allowance from the State as an alternative solution instead of collective redundancies in case a business faces an economic difficulty. For the same reason further salary reductions are requested in the following cases:

Reduced working hours or even suspension, with the state paying unemployment benefit and covering workers' social security while they are not working, are the proposals of a panel of experts on labor issues.

A series of cuts in three categories of beneficiaries are expected in pensions, that will start being paid on Thursday.
The three categories are the beneficiaries of ancillary pensions who are included in the third reductions package, the divident beneficiaries and the double pensioners, due to withholdings increase over EOPYY.