Tatarstan proposed using teenage labor in hazardous industries

The State Council of Tatarstan finalized the draft amendments to Art. 265 Labor Code. According to the document, deputies want to allow the employment of teenagers aged 16 to 18 years “in jobs with harmful and (or) dangerous conditions.” We are talking about concluding fixed-term employment contracts for practical training. The project provides for full-fledged employment of minors in “harmful” enterprises where they did their internship, after they have received secondary vocational education. The initiative is explained by the need to develop “the real sector of the Russian economy in conditions of import substitution.”

The bill previously passed “zero reading” in the Council of Legislators of the Russian Federation, where it was proposed to finalize it. The State Council of the Republic in the new version of the project added that the conditions for admitting teenagers to harmful and dangerous work will be established by the government of the Russian Federation.

The initiative was considered at a meeting of the Tatarstan State Council Committee on Social Policy. However, she was criticized by representatives of the republic’s trade unions and social activists. “Do we want to increase the birth rate? We will ruin the health of these children, and our birth rate will not increase,” said the chairman of the committee’s expert council, Margarita Maksimova. She warned that “we are returning to the Middle Ages.”

As a result, the head of the committee, Svetlana Zakharova, decided to postpone consideration of the project until an additional meeting was held. She explained that “the initiative comes from KamAZ, ElAZ, where there are colleges.” “Our enterprises wanted to be even tougher… The enterprises want to be even tougher than we wrote,” admitted the head of the committee.

Read more about the intentions of the Tatar authorities in the Kommersant-Kazan article. “Enterprises have their eyes on children”.

Kirill Antonov, Kazan