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Public conciliator makes proposal in Estonian HKScan pay dispute

BC, Tallinn, 04.12.2017.Print version
Public conciliator Meelis Virkebau has made a proposal for solving the pay dispute between the management and employees at the Rakvere meatpacking plant of the listed Finnish food group HKScan and is waiting for an answer from the parties to the dispute by Dec. 5, regional newspaper Virumaa Teataja reported, cites LETA/BNS.

Virkebau said that while it has been agreed that the exact numbers will not be spoken about in public before the responses are received, the proposal is for an increase in the basic wage by less than 50% and for no increase to happen before the end of 2017.

 

If the parties refuse to accept the proposal, the conciliator will consider ending the conciliation procedure, which would give the workers the right to take industrial action.

 

The conciliator also made a proposal to the management of the Rakvere plant to conclude a collective agreement in order to improve employment relationships, to improve the movement of information within the company and the training of medium level managers.

 

Workers at the slaughterhouse of the Rakvere plant initially demanded a 100% rise in the basic wage, later cutting back their demand to 50%.

 

Raili Karjane, counselor at the Estonian Industrial and Metalworkers Union that employees of the Rakvere plant belong to, has said that workers of the slaughterhouse of the Rakvere plant at present get about 750 euros a month net, which includes extras. A 50% increase in the basic wage would raise the net income of employees to 1,100-1,200 euros a month in 2018. This includes the effect from the rise in the basic exemption to 500 euros a month next year, the counselor added.

 

The industrial dispute at the Rakvere meatpacking plant got its start on Oct. 17 when 27 workers of the slaughterhouse staged an illegal stoppage, which resulted in the dismissal of three employees. The employees said they were protesting against bad working conditions and stagnation of wages, which have not been raised for the past ten years.

 

The workers then referred the dispute to the public conciliator.






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