Budget employees are demanding salary increases. – Employees have never been treated well by this government, because this government selects people only for the election results – said Dorota Gardias, chairwoman of the Trade Union Forum, in the “Tak jest” program on TVN24. In her opinion, Law and Justice “does not respect the budgetary sphere where this government is the employer.” In the opinion of Piotr Ostrowski, chairman of the All-Poland Agreement of Trade Unions, “it is extremely strange” that the government is saving money on public administration.
Several thousand people took part in the “March of Anger” organized in Warsaw by trade unions of public sector employees. Participants demanded pay increases. Piotr Ostrowski, chairman of OPZZ, said in the “Tak jest” program on TVN24 that currently the average earnings in the public sector are “slightly more than minimum wage“. From July 1 this year, the minimum wage is PLN 3,600 gross.
Wage increases in the budget sector
In the draft budget act for 2024, the government assumes that the remuneration of people employed in the budget sector, public services and uniformed services will increase by 12.3%. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spoke about it during a press conference on August 24 this year.
According to Dorota Gardias, chairwoman of the Trade Union Forum, the government divided the budget because – as announced – not everyone will receive the same increase. – The police, teachers and border guards got something different – the 12.3 percent. And good. In turn, 6.6 percent were other employees. So they divided the budget, there are no systemic solutions, because if they started giving 12.3 (percentage increase) to everyone and not dividing these people, it would already be a systemic step, Gardias pointed out.
In Ostrowski’s opinion, “it is extremely strange” that the government saves money on public administration. – You would have to ask those in power what’s on their minds that make them do this and not another – he noted.
– The Law and Justice government talks a lot about the fact that the state should be strong, but this contradicts it, because a strong state is when we have efficient administration, efficient public services, and efficient uniformed services. And here, it saves money, reduces jobs, doesn’t give raises, causes people to leave their jobs and no new ones to come – explained the chairman of OPZZ.
In his opinion, this led to “adverse selection in public administration”. – Especially where we would like these institutions to operate efficiently and be citizen-friendly, because then we will all live better and we will also better assess how the state works – summed up the guest of “Tak jest” on TVN24.
According to Dorota Gardias, “employees have never been treated well by this government, because this government selects people only for the electoral result.” – Work is not promoted, which is strange nowadays. There is a pay for work. All social policy is only about equalizing opportunities, but we don’t talk about it (…). This government does not respect employees, it has never respected nurses and midwives, it has not respected doctors, it does not respect teachers. It does not respect the budgetary sphere, where the government is the employer, said Gardias, recalling the so-called white town, i.e. the protest of a group of nurses in front of the prime minister’s office in 2007.
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