About 1,000 trade unionists from the county’s districts Friday picketed the Palace of the Republic, protesting against the rise in the social insurance contributions for employees, as provided by the 2013 draft state social insurance budget law that was included in the Parliament’s agenda, Info-Prim Neo reports. Oleg Budza, chairman of the National Confederation of Trade Unions, said the trade unionists gathered together to express their discontent with the intention to raise the social insurance contributions of salary earners from 6% to 7% of the monthly pay and to reduce the employers’ contribution from 23% to 22%. According to trade unionists’ estimates, this redistribution will diminish employees’ incomes by over 250 million lei. Daria Bostan, head of the Anenii Noi Local Union “Agroindsind”, said that about 100 persons from Anenii Noi district took part in the protest, but the number of dissatisfied people is much higher. “People have lost patience and decided to take to the streets to defend their rights,” she stated. Andrei Botnarenko, who heads the trade union of the Scientific-Practical Institute of Horticulture and Food Technology based in Codru town of Chisinau municipality, said that a person who has a paltry salary will be seriously affected by the rise in contributions. “We understand that the budget should be increased as there is not enough money for paying pensions and allowances, but this money must be earned by fighting illegal labor and taxing the rich people, not the poor ones,” said the head of the Sangerei Local Union “Agroindsind” Tudor Mocanu. The Confederation’s administration said that if the legislature adopts the version of the draft state social insurance budget law proposed by the Government, the trade unions will withdraw from the National Commission for Collective Negotiations and Consultations and will inform the international organizations about the violation of the principles of social partnership. On the other hand, the National Confederation of Employers said they support the initiative to redistribute the social insurance contributions between the employer and the employee and reject trade unions’ related requests in the name of the members and the business sector in general. They called upon the lawmakers and the political parties not to yield up to the pressure exerted by the trade unions so as not to endanger the collection of the planned budget revenues.