Trade unions protest legalizing variable-hour employment contracts
A trade union demonstration outside the Riigikogu on Monday protested a legal amendment which would allow employers to have 10-hour, variable-hour employment contracts
The amendment to the Employment Contracts Act is due for its final reading on Wednesday, and would allow employers to conclude variable-hour employment contracts in which at least 10 hours of work per week would be guaranteed, while the rest would depend on the employer's discretion. Consequently people working under these contracts would have a lower guaranteed monthly income, opponents say.
"People's income could fall fourfold in a very short time. If we take the law's minimum conditions, it could mean for some workers that their monthly income is only €266, which is below the minimum subsistence level in Estonia. A bill which offers no guarantees to the employee and leaves them at the mercy of the employer should not receive the Riigikogu's approval," said Kaia Vask, head of the Confederation of Trade Unions,
"The European experience shows clearly where such labor-market models lead. They lead to unstable incomes, weak social protection, and greater poverty. Employees live in uncertainty about how much they will earn next month. This is not the future of work but a return of the labor market to the insecurity of the last century," Vask added.
--
Editor: Andrew Whyte, Johanna Alvin
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
