Andre Essyeev, Deputy-chair of the Duma ( Russian house of Representatives) has announced that the ruling party” Unified Russia” supports a new suggestion to reduce the weekly work days to four ones only.
He pointed out that shorter weekly days make the Russian employees allot more time to their families and other jobs.
He argued that adopting such a suggestion will not affect the monthly income of the white collars.
He added that this suggestion may lead to a significant dropping in unemployment rate in Russia.
Esseev revealed that the new proposal will be introduced gradually to enable companies to be acclimated to that suggestion which will come into force by the next month.
On the other hand, a poll conducted last month revealed that some 43% of the Russians refused any attempt to slash the weekly days of work.
They fear that the new suggestion may down their income but the leading lawmaker said salaries will not be affected at all.
Four days work per week was submitted for the first time by Dmitri Medvedev, Russia’s Prime Minister.
However, it is also supported by Federation of Independent Trade Unions, the largest trade union in Russia.
Even Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most loyal followers would have to admit, if only to themselves, that this year’s televised call-in program – an annual event during which he responds to citizens’ questions directly – went worse than ever before. Citizens wanted to know why their lives aren’t improving under Putin, with some even asking when he would leave office. The president’s reassurances were not convincing.
The Russian economy is at a standstill. From 2014 to 2018, GDP grew by just 1.85% – or 0.4%, on average, each year. (The Kremlin forced the Federal State Statistics Service to revise upward the figures for 2016 and 2017.) During the same period, real disposable incomes shrank by 10.7%, leaving 13% of all Russians living in poverty. In 2018 alone, 600,000 Russian companies shuttered their operations.
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