Interior minister: Police and rescue worker salaries should rise next year
Minister of the Interior Igor Taro (Eesti200) says salaries of police officers and rescue workers ought to rise next year so that people do not move into other spheres of employment, such as defense. How much slaries could increase is another issue.
There are more and more voices in the public sector calling on the Estonian government to raise salaries next year. At the end of March, for example, the Estonian Educational Personnel Union (EEPU) told the Ministry of Education that full-time teachers are expected to receive a 10 to 11 percent pay rise next year.
Egert Belitšev, head of the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA), said on Friday that they were aiming for 1.2 times the average Estonian salary. However, firefighters hope they will have at least the average national salary, said Margo Klaos, head of the Estonian Rescue Board.
Currently, police officers' salaries are more than €200 a month below the Estonian national average, while the most recent pay rises for both police officers and rescue workers came two years ago.
Estonia's new interior minister Igor Taro (Eesti 200) says he thinks the salaries of police officers and rescue workers should increase next year, and that the main question was by how much.
"What can definitely be said is that we are aware of this need. Particularly because it has been quite some time since the last pay rise, so all the inflation has removed the effect of the pay rise that had been sought. Now we are facing another problem, whereby the cost of living has gone out of control. We have very serious challenges there. If, for example, we put a lot more money into defense and they start recruiting more people, then we are actually competing for the same people. We can't allow people from internal security and safety depart for other spheres as this will create significant gaps," Taro said.
Taro said the sector's needs were known to him in detail, but are now subject to difficult budget negotiations.
Just as police officers and rescue workers are waiting for pay rises, the minimum wage for a cultural worker with a higher education has not been increased from 2023 levels.
Minister of Culture Heidy Purga (Reform) was unable to say on Monday how likely it is that cultural workers' minimum salaries would rise next year.
"The coalition negotiations are currently ongoing. The wage issue is one of the topics we are discussing among others," Purga said.
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Editor: Aleksander Krjukov, Michael Cole
