The Ministry of Finance has drawn up a Cabinet of Ministers resolution On Streamlining the Number of Public Sector Employees. The latter has been sent to the relevant ministries and agencies for scrutiny and coordination. The cover letter states the draft was made in pursuance of Item 13 of Cabinet resolution No. 1581 of October 23, 2000, On Measures to Ensure the Approval and Fulfillment of Ukraine’s State Budget for 2001, which mandates bringing the number of public sector employees into line with the appropriations for their upkeep.
It is interesting that as long ago as November the Finance Ministry sent the necessary calculation tables to central executive bodies so that the latter could submit proposals on staff cuts in the budget- funded sectors under them. However, instead of sending proposals, the ministries expressed a negative opinion about such a step because, first they do not overspend the budgetary funds allotted to them, and, secondly, with some budget-funded sectors being already understaffed, further cuts would affect the quality of routine work. But now the government has decided to show its clout by warning that absence of proposals about the draft resolution will be interpreted as consent. This tough stand by the government can be attributed to the expected resumption of IMF funding and the need to fulfill the conditions of the memorandum on cooperation between the Cabinet of Ministers and the IMF, one of the clauses of which demands public sector staff cuts.
The Ministry of Finance could be expected, while drawing up the resolution, to analyze the state of affairs in the public sector, first of all the ratio between the number of employees and the finds appropriated by the 2001 budget, the (in)sufficiency of specialists in such areas as education and medicine, as well as to work our transparent criteria for establishing the number of those to be dismissed. But closer examination of the draft indicates the opposite. It is planned to cut a total of almost 200,000 jobs in 2001. Moreover, this time it is impossible to do so at the expense of the existing vacancies: the plans calls for reducing the number of jobs actually held. Still more interesting is the list of public sector areas subject to reduction. It is common knowledge that the years of independence have seen a steep growth in executive bureaucracy, so this might seem to be the first logical place for the ax to come down. But the draft figures show the opposite. The greatest numbers to be cut are in education and research 36,000, farming almost 10,500, medicine 9,750, the National Academy of Sciences 4,500, ecology 2,325, and culture 1,350 full-time staff. A special item has been reserved for Kyiv’s Shevchenko National University, which is to lay off 675 employees. Conversely, the tax people, now numbering almost 60,000, have to cut only 150, as many as the budget-funded institutions subordinated to the finance and justice ministries.
Thus the government has again set priorities, proving that all talk about administrative reform remain just so much hot air. This raises a question: what about the top-priority development of research, education, and national culture, as is laid down in the government program?
The Dayturned for comment to Chairman for the Legal Inspection of Labor and Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences Trade Union Yevhen MERKULOV :
“I had a great desire to comment on the cabinet resolution to raise public sector wages and salaries from January 1 this year,” Mr. Merkulov said, “but, instead, I have to comment on layoffs in this sector. As to the academy, this draft resolution does not take into account the funds to be spent on the academy from this year’s budget. For example, the remuneration fund approved for 2001 is 1.6 times what it was last year, and the academy-run institutions have no salary arrears. As you see, there are no grounds to reduce almost one seventh of Academy of Sciences researchers, so the presidium has submitted no proposals on layoffs. Moreover, there is a proposal to substantially increase the salaries of research associates in accordance with a presidential decree and within the limits of budgetary allocations. But, despite the available resources, the Ministry of Finance objects.
“Besides, in all democratic countries the question of employment and remuneration is subject to discussion between employers and trade unions when the decision is still at the draft stage. Also in force in this country is the General Agreement between the Cabinet of Ministers and the Confederation of Employers and Trade Union Associations of Ukraine, which provides for early consultations and coordination of the normative instruments and regulations relating to social and labor relations. There is also the Council on Social Partnership attached to the President of Ukraine. But, whatever the case, this draft resolution has never been discussed or coordinated with the trade unions. And, finally, I want to quote the president of Ukraine to all those who have something to do with the draft: “A country without scientists is a country without a future.” After the 2001 budget was approved, it seemed to academic researchers that the state had improved its attitude toward the country’s principal research institution, but this draft raises certain doubts about this,” Mr. Merkulov concluded.
So it remains unclear where the Finance Ministry was coming from when it drew up the resolution. Could it have been done to demonstrate once again its supposed commitment to reform? Should the resolution be passed, we will feel still more acutely the shortage of teachers and medical personnel; research, already at half its 1991 level, will enter a stage where the reduced number of academics will lower the quality of research and studies, while the revival of Ukrainian culture will be something to dream about and discuss in the newspapers. And what will happen to the agrarian sector and the environment? It becomes obvious that the government only needs national education, research, medicine, and culture so much as it can use them for exercises in pseudo-reform consisting in constant budget and staff cuts. But this is the mentality of timeservers who refuse to think about tomorrow.
