Latvia - Union prioritizes combating shadow economy - January 7, 2011

According to the vice president of the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Latvia (LBAS), Egils Baldzēns, when considering further consolidation measures the government should turn special attention to combating the shadow economy. Baldzēns said to believe that the shadow economy is too large in Latvia, mentioning the illegal fuel trade as an example. According to law enforcement statistics, it forms up to 15-20% of the market. Baldzēns said the figure could actually amount to 20-30%, implying a huge loss for the state budget.

English: http://bnn-news.com/2011/01/07/social/latvian-free-trade-union ...

Latvian: http://bnn.lv/2011/01/07/sabiedriba/1600-lbas-parvaret-krizi ...

 

This article was published in the Collective Bargaining Newsletter. It aims to facilitate information exchange between trade unions and to support the work of ETUC's collective bargaining committee. For more information, please contact the editor Maarten van Klaveren, Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies (AIAS) M.vanKlaveren@uva.nl. You may find further information on the ETUI at www.etui.org, and on the AIAS at www.uva-aias.net. © ETUI aisbl, Brussels 2011.