Translated material
Salary in a new way
The Ministry of Labor abolishes the unified tariff schedule
The Ministry of Labor and Social Development of the Russian Federation is completing work on a bill reforming the wage system for public sector employees. Last Friday, Alexander Pochinok announced that this law would be submitted to the government for consideration in the second half of January. Now the reform project is being finalized by commissions, which include representatives of regions and federal departments.The main innovation will be the transition from a single tariff schedule (UTS) to 30 industry-specific payroll systems. They will not be similar to each other; each will have a different number of tariff categories. In addition, regional authorities will have the right to independently establish wage systems in budgetary institutions under their jurisdiction. The bill sets out a rule according to which the amount of wages determined by the subject of the federation should not be less than the guaranteed federal level. And civil servants will receive the minimum laid down in the country’s budget in any case.
The UTS, which has existed since 1992, as experts note, has already outlived its usefulness. It was adopted with the aim of protecting all public sector employees from rapidly growing inflation. Today it does not make it possible to index wages for certain categories of workers who receive particularly low salaries. While the old rules exist, salaries can only be indexed for everyone at once.
Alexander Pochinok plans to abolish the unified tariff schedule from October 1, 2003. Therefore, the indexation of 1.33% scheduled for October will affect representatives of different professions differently. If by that time the bill passes the government, the Duma, the Federation Council and is signed by the president, then the most noticeable increase, the minister claims, will await workers in the scientific and cultural spheres.
For this purpose, 10.6 billion rubles have already been reserved in the federal budget. Over the last three months of 2003, the constituent entities of the federation will have to spend an additional 28.6 billion rubles on salary increases. Regions are required to introduce new wage principles no later than January 1, 2004.