RIGA - The Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia announced on Oct. 4 that they are considering calling for the dissolution of the government if workers' demands for higher wages are not met.
The union said it was planning a massive picket outside Parliament on Oct. 11, when lawmakers are scheduled to discuss next year's budget. The protest is open to the public, and it was unclear how many may attend. Organizers said they expected at least 1,000 people to take part.
LBAS head Peteris Krigers told journalists that the union is prepared to hold a massive picket every time Parliament discussed the proposed budget.
"We are acting radically because the government ignores our requirements," Krigers said. "Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis every day comes up with weird announcements, saying that of course he will initially make contact with trade unions, but in fact nothing is done and nobody speaks to us," he said.
The budget proposal envisages a 1 percent surplus (see story Page 3), but minimal wage increases for the two most outspoken unions 's the doctors and medical workers, and the teachers and science workers.
The union plans to meet with President Valdis Zatlers on Oct. 17 's the U.N.'s international day for the eradication of poverty 's to discuss the possibility of dissolving Parliament. The union plans to initiate a signature gathering campaign if their demands continue to go unheeded.
While doctors and teachers were promised a 10 percent wage hike in next year's budget, this is unlikely to be enough to cover the rising costs of living as inflation continues to soar in Latvia.
The Doctors and Medical Workers Union had previously demanded that their salaries be pegged to the national average. The unions plans to strike over the issue, however, have been called off.
In an Oct. 4 interview with the popular morning television program "900 seconds," Health Minister Vinets Veldre said that talk surrounding a possible medics strike was "purely decorative." He said that if a strike happened, it would only last for two or three days and that there would be no strike in hospitals that perform planned operations or perform emergency medical care.
Later that day, union head Valdis Keris told journalists that an agreement had been reached between the union and the Health Ministry. "Actually, the strike has to be called off, as I do not see any indications for medics to go on strike," he said.
LBAS has also written an open letter to Parliament lawmakers explaining the situation with trade unions in the country. The letter also explained the union's decision to interfere in the country's processes by making use of options provided to it by both international rights norms and Latvian legislation.
"Upon analyzing the situation with the budget… the board of LBAS concluded that social dialogue is still being ignored in our country, and that the cooperation forms stipulated in the agreement concluded with the government, the Latvian Employers Confederation and LBAS are not being observed," the statement read.
According to figures from the statistics office, the average gross monthly wage in Latvia during the second quarter of 2007 was 388.6 lats (555 euros), which amounts to a 33.3 percent increase year-on-year. The average net monthly wage in Latvia during the second quarter of 2007 was 278.9 lats, a 33.7 percent increase year-on-year.
