What Péter Magyar proposed regarding catching up with the domestic minimum wage is completely contrary to domestic and European practice, the head of one of the largest domestic trade unions drew attention to this.
"It is not elegant if the current government unilaterally decides on the lowest wages, although there is no doubt that the public law responsibility and legitimacy rests with it. This must be determined together with the social partners, trade unions and employer interest representatives", this is how Imre Palkovics, president of the National Union of Trade Unions, reacted to the idea of Péter Magyar, president of the Tisza Party.
A few days ago, the politician stated that the Tisza government will double the current minimum wage from 2027 and strives for the minimum wage in Hungary to be one million forints by the end of the government cycle in 2030.
Imre Palkovics drew attention to the fact that the institution of the European Social Dialogue is part of the management system of society and economy among the so many referenced European core values. Based on the Hungarian statement, he would essentially eliminate this in our country during his administration.
We can only hope that the desired "one million" minimum wage will not occur in the future because inflation will be unleashed to such an extent due to similar political promises that it will even be possible to guarantee the preservation of the current real value, said the union leader.
Previously, László Perlusz, the Secretary General of the National Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers, who did not want to specifically evaluate the proposal, drew attention to the fact that the government has never decided on this without them.
When the entrepreneurs could not come to an agreement with the unions during the Covid, the cabinet waited and left the decision to them.
"This shows that the economic administration trusts us, and not without merit. After all, we concluded a six-year salary agreement, moreover, in such a way that everyone won," he recalled.
This year, moreover, an important agreement is being formed between Hungarian trade unions and employers, the reason for this being that the EU minimum wage directive must be implemented in Hungary by November 15.
The EU wants to strengthen the social dialogue between the social partners, and the Hungarian negotiations also talk about how the setting of the minimum wage items could be shifted to the sectoral level from 2027. By the way, this is still the case in many EU countries, i.e. the governments do not decide what the minimum minimum wage will be in a given year.
Cover image: Imre Palkovics, president of the National Association of Workers' Councils
Source: Wikipedia
