Salaries in Serbia could be higher if employers shared a part of their profit, which is not small, with employees, said today the president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Serbia, Ljubisav Orbovic, on the occasion of October 7 – World Day of Decent Work.
“Salaries in the past five years increased by 22 percent, while profits, in the same period, increased by as much as 285 percent. We had the lowest annual salary growth in 2016, 1.09 percent, while in the same year the profit was higher by 99.52 percent,” said Orbovic on the occasion of the World Day of Decent Work, which is being marked today.
He added that these data testify that workers in Serbia work well and professionally, which is why employers do well, so there is no reason for employees not to receive a part of that profit, because when the employer has problems in business, the fate of the company is shared by employees. “minimal”.
“The minimum wage in Serbia has become the rule, not the exception, as established by law, so more and more employers, especially in the real sector, set wages at the level of ‘minimum’ or just a little more. However, when it operates successfully and makes a profit, as a rule, there is no increase in salaries or any other benefit for workers,” Orbovic said.
He reminded that in Europe, the standard of citizens is compared in relation to only one consumer basket, in Serbia, in addition to the average, there is also a minimum consumer basket.
“We did not reach that minimum either, because the minimum is 20 percent less than the value of that basket,” the president of the SSSS pointed out.
He pointed out that, despite the tripartite Program of Decent Work for Serbia, which was signed last year with the mediation of the representatives of the International Labor Organization, employees in Serbia today are far from decent work.
“However, I hope that in some future we will be able to say that most workers have a decent salary and that they can live normally from it,” said Orbovic, adding that the SSSS will continue to fight for work to be valued, for rights to be labor and respect that workers live with dignity from their work, Novi Magazin reports.
