TALLINN - The Estonian Employers' Confederation said it wanted negotiations on the minimum wage to be held in a trilateral format along with the Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions and the government.
The Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions last week proposed to employers to start two-way talks on the minimum wage for 2006. The unions' wage proposal is 3,300 kroons (EUR 211) per month.
Employers have proposed starting negotiations on Sept. 8.
The head of the Employers' Confederation, Tarmo Kriis, said that the confederation cannot define its stance as regards the minimum wage as long as the government hasn't raised the minimum social tax payable on a person to the same level with the tax payable on the official minimum wage.
Harri Taliga, chief of the Confederation of Estonian Trade Unions, earlier said he saw no reason why the state should get involved in the talks on the official minimum wage.
Employers have singled out inadequacies in the payment of social tax by self-employed persons as a key reason behind the shortfall in the medical insurance fund, saying much could be improved by demanding that self-employed persons pay at least as much in social tax as is paid on persons earning the minimum wage.
