Donetsk News Agency
March 6, 2015
Members of the People’s Council of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), in a plenary session today, adopted two fundamental laws defining the principles of labor relations in the Republic. These laws are “Regarding Wages” and “Regarding Leave”.
Denis Pushilin
“At today’s meeting, we will focus ourselves on the laws directed at state construction of the Republic and on everything that relates to the social sphere. This is beneficial, and it’s necessary for the citizens of the Republic. In particular, it will affect labor relations,” said Vice-Speaker of the People’s Council, Denis Pushilin, before the start of the meeting.
One law accepted by the Parliament was “Regarding Wages,” which is aimed at maximum protection of Worker’s Rights, drafted with the aid of lawmaking experience from Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Belorus, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and in this law maximal protection of the labor rights of workers was guaranteed to citizens of the republic.
“Earlier, Ukraine introduced a system of payment based on the assignment of so-called ‘points’ to foremen or employers, which makes it impossible to control wages. Criteria for these appointed points also were not controlled by anyone,” said Julia Sulim, member of the People’s Council of the DPR and chairman of the parliamentary committee regarding social and housing policy.
“We changed this law in order to defeat this system and so that the worker of the Republic was protected, so he’d know that he had a clear tariff rate, which is determined by interaction between government branches, and a minimum wage, which is guaranteed by the state. The law defines a clear tariff rate, the procedure for the payment of wages,” continued the council member. “We have done everything possible to ensure that in this bill the rights of the worker were broadly illuminated. Our Republic is a People’s Republic, thus we did the best we could to protect the rights of the people, ordinary workers.”
According to Sulim, the law “Regarding Leave”, which also was adopted today, takes into considerations of trade unions in the DPR, and they were invited to the discussion. The result was a clear defined plan for determining the amount of holidays, which was lacking in the Ukrainian legislation. “In Ukraine, the criteria for leave is often determined by the employer, who had the discretion to determine the duration of it. We have formulated a clear definition for that,” said a member of the People’s Council.
In addition, members have taken into account the military situation in the People’s Republic. “If fighting breaks out in their area, workers can take a free vacation for another 14 days, in addition to the mandatory 14 per year, with job security,” said Sulim.
— Translated from the Russian by ComradeRon
Quemado Institute 
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