Wage regulation softened

A governmental decree on wage regulation will see fundamental changes "aimed at significantly softening the Act on Wage Regulation", said the Ministry of Social Affairs. The new decree, which will come into force in the second week of November, will extend wage regulation to companies with less than nine employees (currently, regulations do not apply to small companies) and to state financial institutions as well. On the other hand, the decree will ease regulations for some industrial sectors. The reason for the change is Premier Vladimír Mečiar's dissatisfaction with the decree that had originally been approved by his government.