Why Don’t Officials Work for $100?

The entrepreneur answered the Ministry of Labour.

According to the Labour Code of Belarus, the working week should not exceed 40 hours.

But recently, there are cases when lessors instruct entrepreneurs to be at the workplace 48-70 hours a week. Violation of the contract inflicts fines.

In response to the indignation of individual entrepreneurs (IEs), the Ministry of Labour stated that "entrepreneurs are not employees" and the norms of the labour law (working hours, rest, vacation) do not apply to them.

Charter97.org turned to the entrepreneur, activist of the European Belarus civil campaign Aksana Yushkevich for comments.

- How would you comment on such attitude of the authorities to the whole class of the Belarusian society? Is this approach a violation of human rights?

- As for the lease contract concluded between an individual entrepreneur and a legal entity (shopping mall or market place), they set their working hours. Regardless of what is stipulated in the Labour Code. Our legislation is lagging in development.

It needs amendments. This is beyond the concern of a lessor or a legal entity. Only an individual entrepreneur decides it when renting this or that place.

It a huge mistake and delusion, when the Ministry of Labour declares that an individual entrepreneur is not an employee. He works for himself as an employer and as an employee.

If they think that an individual entrepreneur is not an employee, then why he is subject to the same taxes, etc. As we can see, this question is out of the question of our state. That is, our business should be driven into an abyss.

The state does absolutely nothing to raise business, create favourable conditions for the development of small and medium businesses. To say nothing about some kind of crediting and assistance from the state.

Loans for business development are given at a huge interest rate. Not every entrepreneur, businessman, legal entity in the country can afford them.

To get a loan, one needs to pay at least 10% of the loan amount. Our legislation is lagging in development. To avoid such collisions - differences between the facts and the theory - this theory should keep up with the times. Then such issues will not arise at all.

- In your opinion, what is the reason for the increased pressure on entrepreneurs?

- The state treasury is empty and they use all means - not only by putting pressure on individual entrepreneurs - to fix it. For example, the well-known decision of "Minsktrans" to strengthen control over fare evasion is all links in one chain. That is, the pressure on IEs is one of the directions to replenish the treasury. It continued, continues and will continue until the current government changes.

- How would you assess the requirement to spend 70 hours at work? Is this possible to combine this schedule with normal life?

- It depends on the sphere an entrepreneur works in. There are such spheres that 5 hours a day are good, and there are places where 12 hours are not enough. As for, for example, retail trade, the best place for it is shopping centers or markets.

Even the 12-hour working day is not enough for public catering. People want to eat, even though healthy nutrition means meals 3 times a day and snacks.

I believe that the state should not control this issue. The only way for the state to do that is to reach the legislative level of development that corresponds to the development of society. Since society develops much faster than the legislation. And until that happens, such situations will reoccur.

Our legislation is stuck in the 70s. Every person knows this. The authorities should stay away from private business. It needs to create conditions in which the business could develop. If one person wants to control everything in the country, he will have a finger in every pie. It will bring no good!

Private business entails minimum interference of the state. This also applies to independent work - a person earns as much as many hours he worked. Since salaries in our country leave much to be desired, it is clear why people have to work 12-15 hours a day. Nothing is surprising here.

- Are there different forms of forced labour in Belarus today?

- Yes, of course. Everything in our country is forcibly volunteered. Now everything is of a forced nature.

Let's take the last decision of Minsktrans as an example. We know why this happened. The same situation is in other spheres. I doubt that employees of Minsktrans, the same check-people will stop transport in the middle of the road at will. On the one hand, it makes up their salary. On the other hand, human qualities should come first. They have to work there. They have to support their children.

The same is true for the decree on "parasites", the law on "deferments" and so on. I wonder why our government creates new laws, decrees, decrees, regulations if it is enough to improve the old ones. They are so lagging in development and greedy if they create conditions for people to survive. To put it softly, this is a mockery! No normal head of state will create such a mess. Everything is done to support one's ego, to support real parasites. Everyone is forced to go to work, to carry out orders that do not meet legal acts. It is of a forced nature!

- You participated in the signatures collection campaign. What did people tell you about the violation of their rights, including labour ones? What is the most disturbing?

- Employees of enterprises that are on the state balance say that they are forced into signings forms only for those candidates who are accepted by higher officials. In other words, there is coercion. They are intimidated with dismissals.

People do not accept the degradation of society.

No rights are respected. There is no need for laws that work only on papers. 95% of people do not meet the average standard of living and sometimes do not receive salaries for 3 months. It happens when the authorities hold the European Games.

The authorities spend much money to buy expensive real estate and cars. They take this money from people. Having worked for 15 hours a day, people receive a pension of 100 dollars ... I would like to see an official, who works these hours and walks 15 kilometers during this time. Will he agree to get $100? How would he react to this?

People are strictly against Lukashenka to stay in power. After all, officials completely ignore requests and statements of people. People are neglected. Human rights are being violated and it will continue until the current government is in power.

It is necessary to radically change the situation!

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