Oleg Yeremeyev, Director General of the Coordination Council for Russian Employers' Guilds, and Mikhail Shmakov, Independent Russian Trade Union Federation President, addressed a news conference on the prospects today.
"I don't think people will really want to cede their earnings to pension accumulation funds, whatever the government might do to encourage them," said Mr. Yeremeyev. Characteristically, a mere 700,000 Russians have been brave enough to invest their pension savings in private companies, he pointed out.
Labour, too, is taking the government initiative with a grain of salt, Mr. Shmakov joined in. "Unions are very sceptical about it." What the government is doing for fiscal and pension reforms are mere half-steps. Russia actually needs "a radical change of the entire social insurance system". Trade unions insist on unified social taxation abolished, and the country U-turning to entirely new social insurance arrangements.
