In the longest month of the year, freelancers who have fees higher than 9,590 denars will be left without income. Copyright agency “Berin” said that they receive a notice from Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIOM) asking them not to pay fees higher than 9,590 denars until information on how the calculations would be made is not published on the website. As stated in the notice, the reason for this is the lack of coordination of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, PIOM and PRO regarding the new law, which provides freelancers to also pay pension and disability insurance.
– We were told to wait because there are some ambiguities. The method of payment is defined, but now, a few months after the law was enacted, the calculation is floating in the air. We, the agencies, reacted at the time with a letter to the relevant ministries and have pointed to possible problems, but no one wanted to do something to prevent it. So now, those people who claim less than the minimum wage will be given their fee regularly, while all who claim an amount higher than 9,590 denars may have to wait. It creates distrust among our clients, even though we are not responsible for the failure of the competent institutions – say representatives of “Berin”.
We asked the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy and the Ministry of Finance whether state institutions are not yet coordinated, because they were in a hurry the law to become effective from the first of this month, but we received no response. We sent our questions to PIOM as well, but no one ever answered them.
President of the Union of Journalists Tamara Chausidis said that this shows that their position that these amendments will be broken on the backs of workers was correct. According to her, they are false social measures and we can see their effects even on the very beginning – lying off workers, reducing fees, and now, because institutions cannot administer this law, citizens will be left with no income.
– Once again we reiterate and urge implementation of legislative changes to be stopped. If you do not want to do it in the interests of workers, do it because of the inability of institutions to administer it, but just do it! Authentic unions can help them find a solution, but for this to be possible, it is necessary to stop these unfortunate changes and discuss with all concerned parties, not only from a position of power to impose solutions which the institutions themselves cannot implement – says Chausidis.
Zdravko Saveski of leftist association “Solidarity” agrees with this opinion. He said that the law should be delayed because, obviously, the institutions don’t have the capacity to implement it.
