Communists ponder prolonged vacations for parents

Communist party members in the Russian State Duma have proposed altering the national labor code to give parents with children more days off. The system would mean the more kids a family has, the more holiday they would be entitled to.

“Parents have little free time and little money and this especially the case in families with a lot of children. They need to have additional vacation days so that they have more time to spend with their kids. This could be a demonstration that the state is supporting them,” one of the sponsors of the bill, Olga Alimova told the Izvestiya newspaper.

The suggested amendments would entitle the parents of one child to three days off per year. People with two children would have six additional days of vacation and people with three or more children would have nine days.

Currently Russian law orders all employers to grant their staff 28 calendar days of paid vacation per year. Some categories such as teachers, the police or those with disabilities, are granted longer breaks.

Communist lawmakers say they are ready to face the inevitable criticism that businessmen are likely to throw at them, as extra holidays would mean a loss of production.

READ MORE: Duma advises MPs to spend summer vacations in Russia

In October 2014, when some Russian companies began to fire staff because of the financial crisis, the State Duma discussed the possibility of switching to a four-day working week, without cutting salaries. The initiative was proposed by the International Labor Organization.

MPs from the United Russia, who enjoy a majority in the parliament, say that the move would be theoretically possible. However, senior government officials, like Deputy Prime Minister for Labor Rights, Olga Golodets, said that the country could not afford to make such cuts to the working week at present.