PM Marković at Social Council session: Social partners highly agree on all issues, Montenegro remains example of quality social dialogue

Podgorica, Montenegro (6 December 2019) -- At today’s session of the Social Council, in which Prime Minister Duško Marković took participation, representatives of the social partners – the Government, employers and unions reached a high degree of agreement on all items of agenda and jointly noted that successful social dialogue, in which our country is an example not only in the region but also beyond, should be further boosted with the aim of tackling challenges and deepening of understanding and partnership among social partners.

"Dialogue between you as a social partners and the Government is one of the greatest quality of this Government. There is not enough talk about this. This dialogue gives an opportunity to Montenegro’s society, as a small society, to be able to function in understanding, and when you function in understanding, you can find answers to any question. We consider this dialogue with social partners as crucial and one of the most important results of my government," Prime Minister Duško Marković stated at the beginning of the meeting. Pointing to the respect for attitudes of social partners, the Prime Minister recalled that the Government initiated, among other things, a change of the working hours and proclaimed Sunday a non-working day.

President of the Social Council and Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Kemal Purišić pointed to the fact that our country started a second decade of the institucialised social dialogue this year and that the Government and the representative social partners have built mutual respect and trust in the previous period and improved social dialogue. "We have often been an example of positive practice for the countries in the surrounding," Minister Purišić stressed, recalling that Council constituents signed a Memorandum on social partnership, formed a tripartite coordinating body to tackle undeclared work, dealt mobbing issues, have showed particular sensitivity to persons with disabilities, reached an agreement on determining the calculated value of the labour coefficient and increasing the minimum coast of labour and reached an agreement on the General Collective Agreement and the Labour Law.

The Social Council considered earlier today the issue on the departure of the working population from Montenegro and in this regard the consequences of leaving for the society. This is the challenge that many countries are tackling but also the labour mobility represents a civilisational acheivemnet and one of the open market benefits, it was noted at the meeting. The dicussion pointed out that, in addition to the significant departure, there is also a record of the return to Montenegro of those who departured earlier.

Prime Minister Duško Marković noted that one of the strategic responses to the challenge are exactly policies of the Government, thanked to which unemployment was reduced from 22, 7 % in March 2017 to 14, 3% until the end of September this year, while at the same time working population was increased for 8,800 persons and inactive persons reduced for 7, 700 with particularly good data in the most vulnerable group, the young.

The Social Council concluded to approach to the analysis on number of able bodied people who left Montenegro and the reasons for their left in order to the strategy of responding to this challenge to be more effective.

The session pointed out that several ministries do not include the Social Council in the process of drafting the law. It was concluded that on the occasion of drafting the Government Work Program for 2020, a drafting version of the document would be submitted to the Social Council for an opinion on legal solutions, for which the Social Council considers necessarily to give an opinion before the document was passed at the Cabinet session. The Prime Minister informed the Council, that they would request the ministers to act more actively towards the social partners and to participate in the work of the Council, which is their legal obligation.

The Social Council considered the forthcoming amendments on the Law on pension and disability insurance. The today’s session also discussed the specific solutions. The discussion also noted to intensify the dialogue in the shortest possible period.

In principle, the Prime Minister supported the initiative of the Social Council on the construction of the Social Dialogue House as a facility in which social partners would be given an opportunity for individual and joint work, which would further boost the already achieved level of cooperation of social partners.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO