Hard-earned political economy

Yuri Luzhkov explained the harmfulness of addiction to migrants

Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, dissatisfied with the criticism of his migration initiatives from Business Russia, seems to have decided to enlist the support of the capital’s trade unions in the fight against “extra” guest workers. In any case, yesterday at a meeting of the city government, where the draft of the next tripartite agreement between the authorities, employers and professional associations of workers was discussed, the mayor was interested not so much in the social relationship between labor and capital, but in assessments of the sovereign migration policy of the mayor's office. Mr. Luzhkov’s hopes that those invited to Tverskaya, 13, would refute the words of businessmen who reproached officials for the hasty reduction of quotas for labor migrants (see Vremya Novostey, November 22) , were fully justified - even attempts to challenge the “economically justified “The number of guest workers Moscow needs was not found at the meeting.

However, for Mr. Luzhkov, apparently, the fact that someone in the 15th year of his leadership of the city even allows himself to publicly doubt the ability of officials to justify their decisions from an economic point of view was also a surprise. “Our measures and proposals on migration issues caused an unexpected reaction from small and medium-sized businesses. Businessmen object to our measures to reduce migrants,” said the mayor and turned to the Chairman of the Moscow Confederation of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Elena Panina, for clarification. She hastened to reassure the mayor: “This is not the position of all small and medium-sized businesses, but only of some part of Business Russia.” Ms. Panina promised that the confederation, which was somewhat delayed in announcing its assessment of the city hall’s migration initiatives, would soon correct itself. “To a greater extent, our position will coincide with yours,” she assured.

Elena Panina believes that the “side effects” from the presence of a large number of migrant workers in the city are much more obvious than the “economic effect, which is generally very doubtful.” Actually, the mayor undertook to clarify once again the nature of these side effects. “Migration is one of the elements of depravity in industry. It corrupts the industrialist without requiring the modernization of technical processes and labor. And large volumes of labor migration reduce the level of wages of the indigenous population,” Mr. Luzhkov shared his knowledge of political economy. And, clearly inspired by the support of some city employers, he said that the authorities do not intend to deviate from the previously announced “deserved and hard-won” measures: reducing the capital’s quota for foreign workers in 2008 from 700 thousand to 300 thousand people. We also intend to push for the introduction of registration of guest workers at their place of work or residence.

The Moscow Federation of Trade Unions also supported the position of the mayor's office regarding migrants. According to representatives of proletarian associations, the conditions for attracting “agency workers who bring down the price of labor” must be stipulated in collective agreements between employers and industry trade unions. The chairman of the commission on social policy and labor relations of the Moscow City Duma, Mikhail Antontsev, also stated that “the process of attracting foreign labor needs to be placed under trade union control.” The deputy also insisted that the authorities must find a strict mechanism to communicate to all enterprises and entrepreneurs decisions regarding both migration policy and wage reform.

According to the tripartite agreement approved yesterday by the city government, in 2008 the minimum salary of a public sector employee will increase from May 1 from the current 6.1 thousand rubles. up to 6.8 thousand, and from September 1, the city minimum wage will already be 7.5 thousand rubles. However, according to Mr. Antontsev and representatives of trade unions, inflation and the traditional increase in tariffs for housing and communal services will “eat up” all the increases. “Even an increase to 7.5 thousand rubles. not enough to overcome the inflation rate. And if, taking into account the large budget of the city, we can once again revise upward the wages of public sector employees, then at private enterprises the question will remain open,” the deputy said.

However, according to Elena Panina, amendments to the federal law “On the Minimum Wage” already provide an opportunity to influence socially irresponsible employers. In particular, they will have to find clear justifications for refusing to comply with the terms of the trilateral agreement. “If the commission considers the arguments unfounded, the matter will be resolved further through law enforcement agencies,” explained the head of the city confederation of industrialists and entrepreneurs.

Yulia KHOMCHENKO