Unemployment Insurance Fund Supervisory Board Returns
Chairman of the Unemployment Insurance Fund's supervisory board Harri Taliga has reconvened the body following a concession from the government and readiness on the part of employers to join the unions in returning to the table.
Taliga said on March 13 that the government's preparedness - expressed by a proposal submitted by Prime Minister Andrus Ansip at a meeting of the governing coalition - to reduce the premium payable into the fund to 3 percent of wages in 2013 was instrumental.
"This is a key change," Taliga told uudised.err.ee. "Earlier the cabinet talked only of a 0.3 percentage decrease."
"They previously tried to leave the impression that the rate would fall next year already, but they also had pledged that the cut would be marginal."
The unions were preceded in their step to reconvene the board by the employers' representatives, who had similarly walked out last year.
The unions have backed a social partnership as the model for the Fund's supervisory board from the outset. Last week the employers announced they were prepared to return if Taliga reconvened the body.
The dispute had started when the government went over the heads of its two partners on the board, leaving the unemployment insurance premium at 4.2 percent.
Cabinet responded to the walkout by initiating the legislation enabling direct government control over the Unemployment Insurance Fund in emergencies.
Kristopher Rikken