The minerals and mineworkers union, Profsoyuz, has said that the government and Ivan Tattar are ‘out of time’ to negotiate the president’s wage floor policy in the Federal Executive which would see workers in the country guaranteed a pay increase related to average living costs each year. A major piece of Tattar’s election campaign, his closest advisors have been trying to agree a way forward through both the lower and upper houses but have so far failed to do. Calling time on the negotiations union political director, former Amar governor and Union Party leadership candidate Fyodor Schavelev, has now said that he intends to ask his members to strike if progress is not made by Monday.
Over the past few weeks, major party figures have called on the president to propose legislation for the policy, marking nearly a year since he won his election, but he has so far refused citing a “lack of agreement” with the government over the issue. Concerned that the policy may not pass in the lower house, Federal Council Leader Anita Kappeler-Lhotzky has stalled putting the bill to a vote, and is now facing calls to stand aside, finding herself criticised for not acting ‘bullishly’ in the face of the government. Prime Minister Serbin and President Tattar had previously negotiated a deal to secure the passing of energy reform, but have refused to sign a cooperation agreement which would see both major parties able to pass significant pieces of their respective agendas.
Schavelev, who came third in the Unionist leadership race over the summer, made a statement earlier today saying that he “wanted an agreement” but that the president now had to act. “The simple fact is that this policy is what put [the president] in the Niveri Palace. He now has to make this happen and we cannot wait anymore. He cannot be held hostage by the government.” His union, the largest in the country, represents Polasciana’s roughly 350,000 mineworkers – largely concentrated in northern states. Any industrial action could have a major impact on the country’s energy supply, and as winter begins to set in could cause major issues for the government.
Tattar has so far refused to comment on Kappeler-Lhotzky’s role in the Council, and there has also been growing speculation in Karasicena in the last few days about the government wanting to replace Anton Vladic as presiding officer in the lower house. It remains to be known whether the president will now seek to propose his legislation to fend off a dispute with the mineworkers union, but so far the Niveri Palace has refused to comment.
