The prime minister pledged on Monday that wages of statutory officers will be raised next year.
"I believe that wages of statutory officers will be increased from January 1 of next year, as they have been told. I believe organizing protest actions now makes absolutely no sense – this is because the budget was approved last year, and allocations for this year are already clear and the budget will not be revised," the prime minister told journalists on Monday.
Lithuanian border guards, fire-and-rescue officers, and police officers intend to hold protest actions later this summer to demand higher wages and social guarantees, saying their problem would thus get attention from top-ranking EU officers.
"It is an attempt to draw attention to the problems existing in Lithuania, but the European Union's leadership does not address issues of national wages," Interior Minister Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas told journalists at the government building on Monday.
In his words, a raise of up to 10 percent to the lowest-paid officers should be envisaged in the 2014 budget along with a 5-percent raise to those who make more.
Lithuanian border guards who monitor the Lithuanian and EU's external borders pledge to go beyond last year's warning protest and hold a far broader campaign. According to preliminary information, the protest action in checkpoints should kick off on July 9 and last a few days.
Protests are also planned by the trade union of fire-and-rescue officers. They pledge to greet foreign delegations with slogans, particularly during meetings of EU interior and justice ministers.
The police trade union intends to draw EU attention by greeting the delegations at the airport.
