Live, study and work as the great Pushkin bequeathed – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

The State Duma on Tuesday adopted in the first reading amendments to the Labor Code regulating the work of adolescents. After their entry into force, the consent of only one of the parents will be sufficient for the employment of minors and there will be no need to obtain permission from the guardianship authorities. In the process of considering the document, the deputies reminisced about their first earnings, about “outstanding people” who began to work from childhood, and about children’s labor education in Soviet times. At the same time, the communists opposed the amendments, believing that “the main work of a teenager is study.”

The bill was submitted to the Duma in November last year by a group of United Russia members headed by Artem Metelev, chairman of the committee on youth policy. In the explanatory note, the authors cited a relevant argument for their initiative: “In the context of the economic sanctions pressure of states unfriendly to the Russian Federation, the work, and therefore the income of a teenager, is also financial support for the family, instilling in him a sense of responsibility.” The deputies proposed to allow the conclusion of an employment contract to perform light work with adolescents over 14 years of age without the consent of the guardianship authorities and with the approval of one of the parents. Termination of the contract will not need to be coordinated with the State Labor Inspectorate and the commission on minors. The employer is also relieved of the need to conduct a medical examination of a young employee at his own expense: the results of a school medical examination will be sufficient.

Artem Metelev began his report by asking those deputies who earned their first money before the age of 18 to raise their hands. Most of them were in the room. United Russia said that he also worked at this age, and said that today’s youth requires legislators to remove barriers that prevent them from finding a part-time job. There are more than 7 million teenagers in the country from 14 to 18 years old, 91% of high school students, according to VTsIOM, would like to earn extra money during the summer holidays, but no more than 600 thousand are employed annually, the head of the committee shared statistics. He then named several “outstanding personalities” who began their careers from an early age.

This list of honors was opened by Dmitry Medvedev, the chairman of the United Russia, deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, who, as Mr. Metelev recalled, “as a child, every summer he worked part-time on a collective farm, even worked as a combine driver.”

Another example was Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, who “started working at fifteen.” And the speaker completed the enumeration of the heroes of child labor with a completely irresistible argument: “What can I say, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin himself began writing his first poems at the age of seven and became one of the first in Russia to earn money from it. Maybe it’s good that there were no guardianship authorities then.”

United Russia complained that in preparing the project, the authors faced accusations of “using child labor.” But the government of the Russian Federation and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova supported the amendments, the children also “want to work themselves”, and parents, according to polls, support this desire, Artem Metelev emphasized. Well, for those who still doubted after that, he recalled that following the meeting of the State Council on Youth Policy, President Vladimir Putin instructed to amend the legislation by June 1 so that children could go to work during the summer holidays.

True, from the speaker’s answer to a question from Alexei Kurinny (KPRF), it turned out that the amendments concern not only the summer, but also work in any free time from school. Oleg Nilov (“Fair Russia — For Truth”, SRZP) immediately expressed the opinion that this was the “cunning of the bill”: “That is, the bell rang – and that’s it: I abandoned the portfolio until tomorrow and went to work. 24 hours a week. Did you ask the school? Mr. Metelev was ready for such a turn and referred to the positive conclusion of the Ministry of Education.

However, United Russia has not escaped accusations of exploiting child labor. Mikhail Delyagin (SRZP) asked him “is it normal that children should work instead of summer vacation, instead of evening vacation” and is it true that “only children from wealthy families have a need for rest.”

At the same time, the deputy asked if Alexander Pushkin was officially working at the age of seven, “or still in the gray zone.” In response, Artem Metelev assured that the project does not interfere with children’s rest, recalling children’s labor and recreation camps in the Soviet Union. Olga Alimova (KPRF), in turn, suggested that the lobbyists for the amendments were enterprises where the work of minors “is critical.” But the head of the committee firmly stood his ground, assuring that the lobbyist in this case was “the youth themselves.”

From the speeches of the representatives of the factions, it became clear that the speaker’s nostalgic-Soviet attitude convinced many.

Thus, Yaroslav Nilov (LDPR), Chairman of the Labor Committee, said that the Liberal Democrats would support the amendments, and urged not to believe those who say that youth work is needed to replace mobilized citizens. The deputy also recalled his school years: “After the fifth grade, we were taken to the forest belt to plow Christmas trees, and we were paid money for this. We understood the value of the money we earned.”

Valery Gartung (SRZP) also said that he and his children worked during their school years, and when their grandchildren grow up, they will also work. Therefore, he personally supports the bill, although opinions are divided in the faction. The position of the dissenters was later expressed by Social Revolutionary Andrei Kuznetsov, who was dissatisfied with the exclusion from the employment process of guardianship authorities: “We have different parents, and they can push children to do completely different things.”

On the contrary, Nina Ostanina (KPRF), chairman of the committee on family affairs, said that there were no disagreements in her faction and that all communists were against the adoption of the project. “We are not against labor education, moreover, throughout the Soviet period it was considered as part of the educational process. But the main work of the child is study,” emphasized Mrs. Ostanina.

She also disagreed with the rule that only one parent’s consent would be enough for a teenager to be employed, recalling the country’s high divorce rate.

Oleg Leonov (New People) found a new argument in support of the amendments, emphasizing that his faction “consistently advocates that people have the right to choose.” “At the age of 14, he receives a passport, feels almost like an adult. I myself have been working since the age of 14 and I am glad that I was then given such an opportunity, ”admitted the deputy. Yulia Drozhzhina (ER) also approved the amendments, expressing her conviction that they will help difficult teenagers “not fall into the slavery of the street and gray schemes.”

As a result, 353 deputies voted in favor of the bill, 47 were against, nine abstained.

Ksenia Veretennikova