The aim of the meeting was not only to share information on wages and its minimum floors between the trade unionists of the region, but also to develop joint framework for the upcoming regional campaign on wages under the PERC umbrella. The meeting was attended by more than 25 economists from trade union centres across the region, as well as experts from the ILO and ETUI, representatives of ITUC-PERC, and the ILO project “Applying the G20 Training Strategy”.
The topics covered included major trends in wages and their political implications presented by Dr. Bruno Sergi from the European Trade Union Institute. Later, he also introduced national and sectoral approaches to the correlation of productivity and competitiveness. An ILO-ACTRAV expert, Rafael Peels, made a presentation on the application of international labor standards for minimum wages and wages negotiations in the region, and also touched on the issue of public contracts and procurement and their influence on wages. A separate block was devoted to the ILO project “Application of G20 Training Strategy”, in which project experts presented the role of skills development for productive employment, as well as the impact of technological changes on the labor market and vocational training system.
Anton Leppik, the PERC Executive Secretary, presented current ITUC wage campaigns, including in Africa: 100% Africa: Dignity, value and wages; in Latin America - closing the gap - Demanding decent wages, and in Asia: fighting for +50. He also spoke about the ETUC campaign - Europe needs a pay rise.
During the round table participants had the opportunity to speak about the changes, trade union achievements and negative aspects of the wage system in their countries over the past year, and then based on this exchange they were formulating general priorities for a potential campaign, one of which was The achievement of the minimum living wage.
Further topics for discussion within PERC network of economists for the NIS countries were defined as: taxation and effective social policy, pension systems and public control over pension assets, the correlation of education and the labor market.
