Ukrainian Parliament Deputy Chairman Mykola Tomenko has said Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's intention to sign the law on a rise in social standards indicates that the head of state and Regions Party leader Viktor Yanukovych have the same position.
"It’s sad that the Ukrainian president, who has started his election campaign, is acting as an election agent of Viktor Yanukovych, rather than an authorized person of Ukraine," the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko’s press service quoted him as saying in Lviv on Thursday.
He also said that the law is impossible to implement without serious negative consequences, first and foremost, for the private sector of the real economy.
"It’s impossible to significantly increase the minimum wage without dismissing people. But it looks like that this issue is of little interest to everybody, because the plans of the presidential campaign are currently more important than stability in Ukraine," Tomenko said.
Yushchenko said on October 28 that he would not veto the law on a rise in the living wage and the minimum wage, which was passed by parliament on October 20.
A total of 254 MPs voted for the adoption of the law on Tuesday. The Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko did not participate in the vote.
A total of 172 MPs of the Regions Party, 33 MPs of the Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense Bloc, 27 MPs of the Communist Party, 19 MPs of the Bloc of Lytvyn and three MPs representing no factions supported the bill submitted by Bloc of Lytvyn MP Oleh Zarubinsky.
The law foresees that the per capita monthly living wage should be set at UAH 701 from November 1, 2009, UAH 825 from January 1, 2010, UAH 839 from April 1, UAH 843 from July 1, UAH 861 from October 1, and UAH 875 from December 1.
Moreover, the minimum wage should be set at UAH 744 from November 1, 2009, UAH 869 from January 1, 2010, UAH 884 from April 1, UAH 888 from July 1, UAH 907 from October 1, and UAH 922 from December 1.
