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Nikolai Kudryavtsev, this is my answer to
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the question: what is your election platform?
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I want to help Nikolai Kudryavtsev, and my
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election campaign is not a set of
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abstract statements
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or vague wishes, as is usually the case with
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politicians. I speak on behalf of people whose lives I
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want to change for the better, and will change
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when I become president of Russia, and my
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belief is that no one should
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earn less than 25,000 rubles
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per month
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while working full-time. This is because
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all of Russia is a country of
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people like Nikolai Kudryavtsev, who live exactly
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like this. My name is Nikolai, I am 34 years old, and I
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work as a history teacher at a boarding school in Yaroslavl
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for hearing-impaired children.
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It is not an easy job, and it is very upsetting that
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for the fairly heavy workload I
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carry—1.5 full-time positions plus a bonus for
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special working conditions of about 25
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percent—my salary amounts to only
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14,800 rubles. I live with my
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grandmother, who is 90 years old, and with my son.
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He is 10 years old. I spend most of my wages
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on utility bills,
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and what remains goes literally to food. Unfortunately,
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this money is not enough
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to live on, and so I am forced
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to take extra work. On television, we often
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hear talk about the average salary
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of teachers. For example, in our region it
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is, as far as I remember, around
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36,000 or 40,000 rubles. I personally do not
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know
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a single teacher in our city who
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earns that kind of salary.
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The last bonus I got—a huge one by school
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standards, 8,000 rubles—I spent on
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buying a whole sheep so that
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I could be sure my children would not
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starve for years. Despite this, I love
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my job very much because I feel that
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I am doing something socially useful. And I
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want to raise people who
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are ready to stand up for their point of view
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if they believe they are right, so that they
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do not say black is white the next
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day, and so that they can preserve their
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own opinion. This is simply
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an economic law, and in all normal,
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developed, prosperous countries there is
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an established minimum wage
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threshold. In countries poorer
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than Russia, the minimum wage
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is higher than ours. Where will the money come from?
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I’ll explain. Raising the minimum
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wage will cost the economy 2
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and a half trillion rubles. Of that, one
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trillion
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would be a direct burden on the budget. At the same
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time, in state and state-company procurement
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alone, about five
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trillion rubles are stolen every year.
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I know how to fight corruption in the field of
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public procurement.
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Our team will be able to
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seriously reduce the level of corruption in this
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area
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and direct the recovered money toward
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raising wages. Businesses, meanwhile, will be able
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to pay wages at the level of 25,000 rubles or more
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because we will reduce the so-called
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payroll taxes
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that currently make it impossible to pay
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official, fully declared wages. Plus, we will radically reduce
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the administrative and bureaucratic
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burden on business
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so that it can finally develop. I
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am convinced
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that, given the current economic situation
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in Russia, we can and must establish
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a minimum wage threshold for a full
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working day of 25,000 rubles per month.
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Teacher, orderly, graduate student, sales clerk,
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librarian, driver, doctor, security guard—
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no one should earn less, because
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that is not
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a life. Living on that money is hard, but
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on less than 25,000 it is simply impossible.
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That is why I am running in this election:
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so that no one has the right to pay
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Nikolai Kudryavtsev 14,800 rubles
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for work that is worth far more, and
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so that all talk about wages in Russia
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starts from 25,000 or more.