The increase will come into effect in the new year, a statement from the Ministry of the Interior said on Thursday.

The salary of rescuers workers will rise by an average of six per cent, or €60. This will bring the new average salary of rescuer workers to €1,061.

Police officers and border guards will be given an additional €65, an average increase of 4.6 percent. This will raise the minimum wage of police officers from €1,280 to €1,345.

The salary for alarm center operators, such as 112 call center staff, will increase on average by 5.7 percent, or €63, which means that an average salary will increase from €1,106 to €1,169.

Interior Minister Mart Helme said only front-line employees would see their salaries increase. There will be no pay rises for managers and administrative staff working in the same institutions.

In total the additional wages for next year is estimated to cost around €6.9 million. Approximately €5.2 million will be taken from the state budget and €1.7 million will come from a restructuring of agencies.

Last month the Estonian Rescue Workers Union held a protest outside Stenbocki maja (Stenbock House) at Toompea demanding higher wages. They said the current rate was making it hard to recruit and putting the security of the country at risk.

The Rescue Board wanted a pay increase to the level of the average salary in 2020. This would be somewhere between €1,300 and €1,400 euros.  

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