But the miners will wait... Duma deputies raise salaries for their assistants

"Novye Izvestia" figured out how the incomes of deputies and the State Duma apparatus correlate with the salary in the other professions in the Russian Federation.

Irina Mishina

The deputies motivated their proposal by the fact that after the amendments were made to the Constitution, the powers of the deputies had expanded. This means that the work of their assistants has increased. "Taking into account the new powers and tasks... the volume of work in the regions is significantly increasing and the requirements for its quality are increasing". In addition, “maintaining contact with voters requires highly qualified cadres of assistants”, - says the explanatory note to the bill.

Thus, one deputy will have a fund of 387 thousand rubles per month for his assistants. Moreover, in subsequent years, the money allowances of assistants will grow from year to year, so in 2023 they will be allocated 794.8 million rubles, in 2024 - 822.4.

We decided to ask what kind of duties have been added to the deputies and their subordinates.

“More people began to apply to the State Duma. Inquiries, social media - it all takes more time. For example, I run my social networks myself; this is a very effective channel of communication with voters. Even 5 years ago, it was impossible to imagine people contacting a deputy directly through social networks. The volume of work is simply enormous for the assistants, and the salaries are still only 60-80 thousand, which is certainly not enough today. Reducing the number of assistants to pay more. As such, additional powers did not appear, but the volume of applications and the volume of work with people has grown very much", - State Duma deputy Ayrat Farrakhov told Novye Izvestia.

What's new in the work of assistants? We asked them ourselves with this question.

“I am working for the first convocation, I am not only an assistant to the deputy, but also his press secretary”, - said Daria Bogorada, press secretary of the chairman of the committee on legislation and state building Pavel Krasheninnikov, who initiated an increase in the salary fund for deputy assistants. - Assistants report directly to the deputy, their salary fund is divided into all assistants. A deputy can have up to 7 people. But more often the deputies have 4 assistants: two in Moscow and two work with voters in the regions. On average, the salary of an assistant to a deputy is 60-80 thousand. In addition, there is also a social package, like any civil servant, plus a clinic. The range of responsibilities is different for everyone, depending on the workload on a particular committee".

The paradox is that the initiative to increase the salary fund for assistants "in connection with the increased workload and new responsibilities" came from among those deputies who have been working for the entire first convocation, that is, for almost 2 months.

“Our deputy has two assistants working in the Duma, three in the regions, the deputy himself sets their salaries, the assistants are directly subordinate to him. It is difficult for me to judge how much the load on the deputy corps has increased in connection with the adoption of amendments to the Constitution: our deputy is working for the first convocation", - Eleonora Vadezhkina, assistant to MP Vladislav Davankov from the New People faction, who introduced a bill on increasing the salary fund of assistants.

If we take the current state of affairs, the salary of an assistant to a deputy is not so exorbitant. "Now the salary of two Moscow assistants of one deputy is about 180 thousand rubles for two, and assistants in the regions sometimes receive 40 thousand rubles each," a source in the State Duma apparatus told NI, who wished to remain unnamed.

Deputy assistants, of course, must also live with dignity, but everything is learned in comparison. At least with the deputies themselves. In 2021, the average salary of a State Duma deputy will be 500 thousand rubles a month. This was confirmed by Vyacheslav Lysakov, who worked in the State Duma until October this year. He said that he really did receive about 450 thousand rubles a month.

If we compare it with the income of civil servants, then the assistants of the deputies, by Moscow standards, are somewhere in the middle. Teachers are considered to be one of the highest paid in the capital lately. Judging by the data published in the public domain, the average salary of teachers at Lyceum Second School in October exceeded 250 thousand rubles, and in November 150 thousand rubles. In the educational complex 1248 the average salary of teachers in September was 120 thousand rubles, and in October 115 thousand rubles.

Against this background, the salaries of doctors in the "red zones" do not seem so high. The average salary in Russia for doctors who work with COVID-19 patients is 92.8 thousand rubles. For Moscow and the Moscow region, it is 98.4 thousand rubles, in St. Petersburg and the region - 100.2 thousand, in the Middle Urals - 94.8 thousand. The highest salaries are given to resuscitators and anesthesiologists. They reach 280 thousand rubles without taxes,wo bschaet medical portal doctorpiter.

The situation with the miners is much worse. On the site jobfilter.ru in the announcement dated November 6 of this year, there is a vacancy for a miner at LLC Mine Listvyazhnaya. The proposed salary is from 31,393 rubles. There are also vacancies for a miner with a salary of 42,414 rubles, a track technician - from 29,743 rubles, a head of a repair and construction site - from 50,783 rubles, a leading engineer - from 47,586 rubles.

We decided to ask the State Duma deputies who voted for raising the salaries of their assistants, when will the issue of raising miners' salaries finally be resolved?

“I am sure that this issue will be dealt with consistently. The President said this very frankly. And the State Duma will make every effort to ensure that both salaries and the safety of miners are at the proper level. There are many problems here. It is important that the mines are not closed because this will create social problems. A balanced approach is needed here”, - Airat Farrakhov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes, promised Novye Izvestia.

But when all this will happen is not yet clear. In any case, the miners will not receive a gift for the New Year, unlike the assistants to the deputies. And the miners have nothing to do with the authorities.