Industrial workers expect ambitious goals and a focused plan from the newly elected Seimas

Lithuanian Industry Trade Union Federation (LPPSF), in a letter dated 15 November, addressed the newly elected members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, conveying the expectations of workers for the next four years.

The people’s representatives in the Seimas are invited to take decisions that will increase wages, reduce social inequalities and promote social justice. This can be achieved by increasing productivity, investing in safer working conditions and innovation, and regulating migration rates.

In addition, there is a need to improve tax system environment and to change the principles of personal income taxation in line with the law of progressivity, by taxing income on the basis of the amount of income earned rather than its origin, and to reduce the tax burden on those working under employment contracts.

“We call for strengthening of the public sector through the transparency of funding mechanisms – public finances should not be used to create and support private business, but to improve the working conditions of employees of public institutions, the quality of services they provide, and to ensure the accessibility of services,” the letter stresses.

Recent data on occupational fatalities show that health and safety in the workplace is still too lax. The letter therefore points to the need to encourage employers to focus more on creating safe and healthful workplaces. Moreover, it is important to take care of workers’ emotional health as well as their physical health.

Dalia Jakutavičė, President of the LPPSF and member of the Tripartite Council, points out that it is particularly important in this parliamentary term to promote social dialogue, to strengthen power of collective bargaining and to increase the number of collective bargaining agreements, as called for by the European Union institutions and legislation, such as, for example, the Directive (EU) 2022/2041 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 October 2022 on adequate minimum wages in the European Union, which Member States already should start to implement.

“The power of agreements and collective bargaining is increasingly appreciated in today’s world – in Lithuania, unfortunately, we still do not have enough collective bargaining agreements in comparison to the European countries we are benchmarking, especially in the private sector. However, agreements are an integral part of a stable democratic society”, points out D. Jakutavičė.

“We hope that the new MEPs will listen to the voice of industrial workers. The sector employs over 232,000 people – about 18% of the country’s workforce. Industry is the engine of the Lithuanian economy and contributes significantly to the country’s prosperity and growth,” said the LPPSF leader.

She says that in a sensitive geopolitical situation, it is necessary to focus on ambitious goals and to act in a targeted manner, using the already established mechanisms of social dialogue and improving and applying them effectively in practice.

The LPPSF brings together workers from the energy, chemical, construction and utilities industries. It is a member of the Lithuanian Confederation of Trade Unions (LPSK), the European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU), IndustriALLEurope and the International Federation of Public Service Unions (PSI).