OREANDA-NEWS. April 19, 2011. During the meeting, the prime minister and the trade union leader discussed a number of social welfare issues, including higher wages for the employees of government-financed organisations and contributions to social funds. The officials paid particular attention to the activity of the Russian Trilateral Commission on the Regulation of Social and Labour Relations. The prime minister assured Mr. Shmakov that social welfare issues would necessarily be dealt with in dialogue with the trade unions.

Transcript of the beginning of the meeting:

Vladimir Putin: Mr Shmakov, I’m glad to see you. We see each other regularly at government meetings, but we don’t always have a chance to talk. Meanwhile, I think that the dialogue within the Trilateral Commission has been well established.  The commission holds meetings every month, and the working group functions even better – it gathers almost every week and sometimes even every day. The most sundry issues – above all, social ones – are discussed. We have started a good practice: we discuss almost all social issues and social welfare laws, including the budget-related issues, and then we make decisions on them through our discussions. The same principle will be applied to the new law on healthcare, which we’ve been discussing with the professional community. We have discussed this law with you, and we will continue to do so.

More than once, we have raised the issue of higher wages for employees of government-financed organisations. You are aware of the programme to modernise healthcare, which must provide for an increase in the salaries of medical workers. We are now formulating a programme related to the reorganisation of schools, and it also envisages raising the wages of our teachers. I hope that we will continue to work in this way.

Mikhail Shmakov: Of course. Representatives of the medical workers’ trade union were among the foremost participants in discussing the law on modernising healthcare as part of our trilateral talks and cooperation. Likewise, our representatives are actively participating in amending the law on education. I agree with you. Moreover, as you know, I’m constantly raising the issue of making the Russian Trilateral Commission a central platform for discussing all such ideas. There are many of them, some of which may be constructive and some of which may be rejected, but, nevertheless, I want each of them to be discussed at the Trilateral Commission.

Unfortunately, sometimes the employers, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, try to push their ideas through other channels. I have already said that this is not quite the right thing to do. Nevertheless, the latest proposal to reduce contributions to social funds to 26% at the meeting in Magnitogorsk…

Vladimir Putin: But we haven’t made any decisions yet.

Mikhail Shmakov: It’s good that no decision has been made. It would be wise to discuss it at the meeting of the Trilateral Commission and then advance it to a higher level. There are many intricacies involved, and if we don’t understand how to compensate for the shortfall in incomes of the Pension Fund and Social Insurance Fund, then…  Well, another system can be established ...  But first, let’s calculate and agree, at least theoretically, upon a source from which we could draw these incomes, and only then say: alright, let’s return to the old scheme. Without this the process is not coordinated, and that’s why I would like these issues to be discussed in detail before any decision is taken. Decisions should not be taken in a rash.

Vladimir Putin: Mr Shmakov, I understand your concern, but I want to reassure you that this is exactly the tack we will take. If we come to decide upon an issue, then we will certainly do so in accordance with the well-established practice of dialogue with the trade unions. That’s the first thing. The second is that in amending previously adopted decisions – and businesses are indeed under severe pressure, as is evidenced by statistical data – the government will unconditionally fulfil all its social commitments, that is, if such amendments are made.

Mikhail Shmakov: Mr Putin, ironically, we are also concerned with the serious pressure on businesses. The same story that we saw unfold under a unified social tax is repeating itself today. The tax used to stand at 36%, after which there was a campaign to reduce taxes for businesses. Other taxes were left intact – only the unified social tax was reduced to 26%. Now that we have returned to insurance principles, these rates seem objectively calculated… Let’s reduce taxes, perhaps we can look at other areas of tax legislation and see how we can alleviate burden on businesses so that we can make our economy more attractive to investment. There is something to talk about.

Vladimir Putin: And we will talk. We plan to move forward in these areas in dialogue with the trade unions.