Companies@UA: База компаний Украины

Kyiv, July 17 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine has stated it considers inappropriate to introduce a minimum hourly wage as social guarantee starting from the next year, its media center reported on Thursday.

According to the FTUU media center, Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko signed a law "On amending several laws of Ukraine regarding a minimum hourly wage" on July 13, which stipulates that starting from January 1, 2010, minimum hourly wage levels are introduced in Ukraine.

The trade unions believe that introducing this type of state guarantee will not improve the economic conditions of workers and will not contribute to ensuring their constitutional rights to an adequate standard of living.

According to the officials, the law only stipulates the existence of a minimum hourly wage and minimum monthly salary simultaneously, but the mechanism for their calculation, along with other procedures, is not provided. However, the law requires that the cabinet develop a mechanism for calculating and introducing a minimum hourly wage.

"And there will be a lot of problems if employers try to restrict the rights of workers using this new guarantee," the trade unions said.