In social institutions, not everyone is entitled to tourist vouchers

Part of the employees of the "Komanski Most" Institution, including cooks, security workers and employees in the laundry, are not entitled to tourist vouchers, because the administration of that institution received information from the Ministry of Finance and Social Welfare (MFSS) that this assistance does not apply on employees in the administrative, as well as in other services, who were not in direct contact with users and thus were able to get infected with the coronavirus.

The Social Democratic Party (SD) submitted an amendment to the Budget Law, which was adopted by the Parliament last Sunday, and which enables tourist vouchers to be awarded to employees of social and child welfare institutions.

The employees of these auxiliary services of "Komanski Most", who spoke to "Vijesti", said that the example of the distribution of vouchers was unfair, because they were received by their fellow guards, laundry and kitchen workers of the Clinical Center, and that they were not sure how their institution decides who was at risk of contracting the covid-19 virus.

The original proposal was for all employees in those institutions to receive a voucher, but the MFSS amended the amendment in such a way that administrative staff should not receive that right, which reduced the number from a total of 950 employees to 500.

"According to the first letter from the MFSS, we were informed that the right to tourist vouchers can only be exercised by professional workers who were directly exposed to the risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus. Considering the difficulty and specificity of the work in our institution, and especially during the epidemic period, we did not agree with this decision, so we immediately turned to the relevant Ministry and the president of the Union of Social Workers, Goran Simović, with the explanation that the list should be expanded to all services. because each of them was potentially exposed to the risk of contracting the mentioned virus", informed "Vijesta" from the Institute "Komanski Most".

They stated that the MFSS took into account the remarks and information they received, and it was decided that this measure would additionally include caregivers, medical staff, as well as professional workers and associates in care jobs, i.e. workers who were in constant contact with users.

"Also, the Ministry emphasized that this measure does not apply to administrative, as well as other services that were not in direct contact with users," said the Institute.

They added that according to the new amendment to the budget, they have not yet received information about which of the employees additionally has the possibility to exercise this right, but that they will certainly act according to future recommendations.

"Taking into account the specificity of the work in our institution and the fact that it was not possible to maintain physical distance with users during the epidemic, we believe that all employees, even though they were not in direct work with them, deserve to exercise this right," the Institute said.

MFSS did not specify to "Vijesti" who is entitled to tourist vouchers from the employees of these social institutions.

The adopted amendment does not require additional money in the budget, but the necessary funds for tourist vouchers have been redirected from the position of expenses for representations and from the position of expenses for the payment of work contracts.

It is planned that a total of 5,5 million euros will be allocated for tourist vouchers for employees in healthcare, education and social services, and the individual value of the vouchers is 200 euros. About 23 thousand workers have applied so far