The call by the national ombudsman to increase the monthly minimum wage was rejected by the Prime Minister as a target amount that was not realistic. Speaking about the minimum wage the ombudsman referred to the ratification of Article 4 of the European Social Charter in full. Article 4 speaks about just wages. His plea led to proposals to increase the minimum wage with 1oo lats to 303 lats (€428). The government received objections from the Latvian Employers’ Confederation and has said that a system of gradual increase in the minimum wage must be implemented in the future, balancing this in the interests of social partners, as well as the minimum wage in neighbouring countries.
English: http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/32619/
http://www.accessmylibrary.com/article-1G1-319595194/latvian-ombudsman-interviewed ...
For more information, please contact the editor Jan Cremers, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) cbn-aias@uva.nl or the communications officer at the ETUI, Mariya Nikolova mnikolova@etui.org. For previous issues of the Collective bargaining newsletter please visit http://www.etui.org/E-Newsletters/Collective-bargaining-newsletter. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net.