Sergei Stepantsov
At his live televised question-and-answer session, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said labour quotas for foreign workers in Russia should be halved in 2009 amid the ongoing global financial crisis. "Considering the serious situation on the labour market, I think it reasonable to cut the quotas submitted by the regions by at least 50%," Putin said during the session.
Putin's position is radically different from that of the Ministry of Health and Social Development and the Federal Migration Service, which spoke out for increasing the quota for foreign labourers a while ago. We asked Andrei Isayev, First Deputy Secretary of the United Russia General Council and chairman of the State Duma Committee for Labour and Social Policy, to comment on the Prime Minister's initiative.
"This is a correct and I would say even a breakthrough decision that has put many officials in their proper place," Isayev said. According to him, the initiative revealed once again that Putin is a wise politician who pays attention to the opinions of the Russian citizens. Meanwhile, Isayev noted, the different initiative from the Ministry of Health and Social Development and the Federal Migration Service has been strongly reprobated by United Party members, while members of the United Russia young wing - youth movement Molodaya Gvardiya (Young Guard) - even picketed the Federal Migration Service offices.
"We pressed to reduce the quotas by at least 30%, but Putin went even farther, saying it should be cut by half. This is absolutely the right decision and a good message to our employers not to hire cheap labourers from CIS countries but put efforts into retraining our own workers who are left jobless," Isayev commented.
According to Isayev, in the ongoing global financial crisis, employers should follow the principles of civic solidarity, which means they will have to hire Russian citizens first and foremost.
"I am aware that it could cost companies much more, as they will have to pay higher wages plus social benefits. Yet this is a fair price for the ability to live in a successful society and be honest with each other in the future," Isayev concluded.