On the General Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, the Confederation of Employers of Uzbekistan on social and economic issues for 2020-2022

05.02.2020
02/05/2020. The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev, in his reports, speeches, meetings with the population, invariably emphasizes the duty of state bodies to create such conditions as to satisfy the needs and aspirations of people to the maximum, increase their incomes, improve living conditions, create new jobs with decent working conditions, ensure the rule laws in all spheres of life of the state and society, improve the system of targeted social protection for the needy segments of the population.

The implementation of the policy developed by the head of our state to protect human interests, ensuring the growth of the level and quality of life of the people as a result of the ongoing reforms, should become a priority task not only for state bodies, but also for employers and trade unions.

At the same time, building an effective social dialogue between social partners represented by state bodies, employers and trade unions serves to harmonize the interests of all parties of social and labor relations, to promote stability and social harmony in society.

In our republic, the practice of concluding a General Agreement, sectoral and territorial agreements, and in organizations – collective agreements is used, which is the result of constructive cooperation of social partners.

The General Agreement is the most important document of the tripartite social partnership in the sphere of labor, which establishes the general principles for the coordinated implementation of the socio-economic policy in the republic.

Based on this, on the basis of Article 48 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a General Agreement was signed between the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan, the Confederation of Employers of Uzbekistan on social and economic issues for 2020-2022.

The General Agreement was signed by:

on behalf of the Government – Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan Abdulla Nigmatovich Aripov;

on behalf of workers’ organizations – Chairman of the Federation of Trade Unions of Uzbekistan – Kudratilla Mirsagatovich Rafikov;

on behalf of the republican associations of employers – Chairman of the Board of the Confederation of Employers of Uzbekistan Adkham Ilhamovich Ikramov.

The General Agreement includes a number of measures aimed at resolving socio-economic issues that are currently relevant for our country.

In particular, in the field of economic development, domestic production and entrepreneurship, the attention of the parties is focused on joint work on intensive development of the real sector of the economy, diversification of industry and foreign trade, modernization of production, stimulation of exports of finished products, as well as increasing the competitiveness and stability of the national economy through taking measures to protect domestic producers.

For these purposes, priority should be given to using the advantages and benefits of economic and specialized zones, industry clusters, small industrial zones, innovation centers, technology parks, co-working centers for the effective development and location of industrial production and attracting investment.

The section on participation in rule-making and ensuring the legal protection of employees covers the issues of adopting new and introducing amendments and additions to existing legal acts, increasing the number of feedback channels with the population on labor law issues, improving legal literacy and legal culture of citizens.

In this direction, an agreement was reached to study the possibilities of implementing into national legislation the conventions of the International Labor Organization relating to compensation for workers in case of accidents at work, protection of wages, paid holidays, workers with family responsibilities, home work, maternity protection, safety and health at work.

In the law enforcement sphere, it is planned to establish the activities of trade union inspections in accordance with the newly adopted Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Trade Unions”, to hold consultations between social partners aimed at mitigating the consequences of the mass layoffs of workers in certain industries.

The General Agreement also reflects the issues of wages, increasing incomes and living standards of the population, the main task in this direction is to increase the real wages and incomes of workers.

The need for tripartite consultations between the Government, employers’ organizations and trade unions on the establishment of the minimum wage was noted.

It was considered expedient to introduce the requirements of the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 743 dated September 6, 2019, in terms of the use of allowances and additional holidays for work in areas with difficult and unfavorable natural and climatic working conditions, not included in the corresponding list, industry coefficients raising the tariff rates of workers for certain technological types of work, industries and types of economic activity, as well as establishing allowances for the traveling and mobile nature of work.