Officials are intensively looking for a way out of the terrible and dangerous situation in the Russian housing and communal services.
And here’s a new somersault: the State Duma said that residents of apartment buildings themselves should pay for the work of janitors, plumbers, electricians and other utility workers. Most likely, a new line will appear in the tabs.
We need to start with the fact that, in fact, we already pay for these services – the salaries that utility employees receive in management companies are somehow smeared in the fat that we pay for. You must agree, it cannot be otherwise – the Criminal code will not work at a loss. But, it turns out, there is not enough for a decent salary, and therefore we need to increase our expenses in order to increase the incomes of janitors and electricians.
Of course, this is the simplest and most familiar way out of any crisis situations for officials – to take money from ordinary people. Instead of looking for reasonable solutions, they simply shift the problem onto the shoulders of the population. And they are not even trying, for example, to somehow regulate the relationship of the domestic housing and communal services with migrants, who until recently formed the main labor force for this industry.
As you know, migrant workers no longer want to work in our housing and communal services system. Representatives of diasporas say that salaries in the Russian housing and communal services have become comparable to incomes at home, so it makes no sense for them to work hard at snow removal. In addition, migrants lose some of their earned money when transferring them to their home countries due to the complicated currency conversion. The situation is difficult, and real steps are needed to restore migrants’ interest in this activity.
However, statistics show that the average salary in the housing and communal services sector is 30-40% lower than the average salary in the regions. It is believed that representatives of this industry are the lowest paid people in the economy. “The low level of salaries of housing and communal services workers is one of the factors of the deplorable state of the communal infrastructure,” said Pavel Sklyanchuk, an expert of the Popular Front. It is not surprising that no more than 18% of young people in this field. Those who are over 40 work, and they do not stay long. Turnover exceeds 30%. In a quite prosperous Moscow region, the salary of a qualified plumber or electrician is about 60 thousand rubles. According to Sergei Kolunov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services, this is about 30 thousand less than representatives of other industries receive.
However, in practice, very often housing and communal services workers are not even paid what they promised or are openly deceived. “I wanted to get a job cleaning my house, because I was tired of constantly demanding that it be cleaned. The house technician offered after our unpleasant conversation, said the salary was more than 30. When writing the application, it turned out that 18 would be paid,” the woman writes in one of the social networks.
However, some experts believe that they pay housing and communal services employees quite normal money, but the problem lies in another plane. “As for janitors, their salaries – especially in the metropolitan region – exceed the average in Russia,” says Konstantin Krokhin, Chairman of the Board of the Union of Housing Organizations, member of the Committee on Entrepreneurship in the Housing and Communal Services of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation. – Naturally, it is difficult to compete with IT specialists or couriers, but 60-70 thousand is a white salary, and in winter, with additional payments for complexity, it reaches 90 thousand rubles. I think this is a good level of payment. But the problem is that these janitors are not physically present, because until recently, the municipal authorities of large cities relied on migrants. Today, those who come go to couriers, where the salary is even higher, or in a taxi. Therefore, it is necessary to establish strict rules for attracting foreign labor so that a person cannot freely change his place of work. If you came in as a janitor, please work as a janitor.”
As you can see, there are a lot of problems, people’s deputies should show their analytical and administrative abilities here, propose new non-standard legislative initiatives to help the industry and citizens who live in apartment buildings, but no, they have enough brains only for regular financial withdrawals from citizens. And it’s not clear how it’s going to work at all. If residents will directly pay for the work of janitors and electricians, it means that these housing and communal services workers must report directly to the residents, and their place of work should not be some kind of criminal code, but, say, some specific house.
As they say, there are a lot of questions, and it must be said right away that this initiative caused a protest even among some deputies. “Instead of looking for new reasons to raise tariffs, let’s conduct a large-scale financial audit in the housing and communal services sector and support the nationalization of the industry. This will help us figure out where the funds from previous increases are going and prevent unjustified tariff increases,” said Sergei Mironov, head of the Fair Russia – For Truth faction in the State Duma. He recalled that starting in July, tariffs will rise by almost 10%, and debts for housing and communal services are approaching a trillion rubles. “The proposal to hang expenses on citizens is not a way out of the situation. Housing and communal services workers deserve decent pay, but the responsibility for this lies with the state, not on the shoulders of people,” Mironov stressed.
Natalia Vladimirova.
Photo: FREEPIK.COM
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