MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax-AVN) - Members of the Kaliningrad regional legislature have sent a petition to Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov asking him to pay attention to civilians working in control bodies of military districts and fleets, which, as they argue, is the least socially protected category of the Defense Ministry personnel.
The lawmakers called on Ivanov to take measures that will determine the civilian personnel's social status and optimize their salaries, a source in the Defense Ministry told Interfax- Military News Agency on Friday.
"The Kaliningrad lawmakers' statement reads that the Armed Forces introduced different levels of salaries for two main categories of civilian personnel in 1993 - one level for workers of the Defense Ministry's central administration, administrations of districts, fleets, groups of forces, and the other level for workers of military units, higher military educational establishments, enterprises and organizations of the Defense Ministry," the source said.
According to the lawmakers, salary levels differ greatly between these categories of workers, even though the order of payment is identical.
Under a 1997 directive, the status of civilians employed by the Defense Ministry's central administration is equal to the status of federal state employees. At the same time, the legal status of civilians employed by district and fleet administrations remained the same.
A government resolution of 2000 instructed chiefs of federal executive bodies to raise salaries attached to the position of civilians working with the latter category of personnel simultaneously with increases in salaries of federal state employees. This means that the status of civilians employed by control bodies of military districts and fleets was made equal to the status of federal state employees. Nevertheless, salaries of federal state employees increased considerably under a presidential decree of June 25, 2002, but salaries of civilians employed by district and fleet administrations remained the same.
Moreover, this category of employees is not paid one-time annual bonus, the lawmakers stress.
Thus, civilian employees of district and fleet administrations are the least socially protected category of civilians employed by the Armed Forces. Their work conditions are not equal to those of other workers, the lawmakers note.