On September 7, 2020, in the headquarters of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia a high level meeting between the SSM and the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia was held.
The meeting was attended by high level delegations from both social partners. The delegation of CCM:
1. Darko Dimovski, President of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia
2. Zlatko Cvetkovski, Secretary of the Council of CCM
3. PhD Marjan Kicev, Vice President of the Council of CCM for the Public Sector (MPS)
4. Pavel Trendafilov, Vice President of the Council of CCM for the Private Sector (SGIP)
5. Ljubisa Karanfilovski, Vice President of the Council of CCM for Collective Bargaining and and Economic Affairs (SSZFSZ)
6. Miko Stojanovski, Vice President of the Council of CCM for Organizational Development (SRSVM)
7. Ljupco Radovski, Vice President of the Council of CCM for organization and mobilization of trade union membership (STKC)
8. Igor Gerasov, Vice President of the Council of CCM for Free Economic Zones (TIDZ)
and
the delegation of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia led by:
1. Zoran Zaev, Prime Minister of the Republic of North Macedonia
2. Fatmir Bitiki, Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic issues and coordination with economic departments
3. Fatmir Besimi, Minister of Finance
4. Kreshnik Bekteshi, Minister of Economy
5. Arjanit Hoxha, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy
6. Jagoda Shahpaska, Minister of Labor and Social Policy
7. Blagoj Bochvarski, Minister of Transport and Communications
8. Venko Filipce, Minister of Health
During the high level meeting, the President Dimovski emphasized:
Today in SSM we initiated this meeting with our social partner - the Government of RNM with one goal: to preserve the jobs and return the fired workers, our colleagues back at work.
Therefore we request from the Government of RNM:
- direct financial assistance to workers and companies in the most vulnerable and most affected sectors.
- amendment to the Labor Law as soon as possible
- fixed-term employment contracts only in exceptional objective conditions and lasting up to 1 year
- 38 hours working week,
- maternity leave of 12 months,
- the right to salary adjustment to be governed by Law and Collective Agreements
- full realization of the right to annual leave
- Saturday and Sunday to be days of weekly rest
- improving healthy and safe working conditions in companies.
- Respecting the conventions on freedom of trade union organizing and functioning
- The employer should be obliged to start negotiations within 30 days from the submitted draft proposal of the Collective Agreement at the level of the employer by the trade union.
- Improving collective bargaining (signing the GCA for the private and public sector) and social dialogue at all levels because our rights cannot be decided without us.
- Introduction of several retirement conditions in the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance
We propose, in addition to the existing retirement conditions additional conditions to be introduced:
1. Age pension – years of service
• 35 years of service - woman - regardless of age
• 40 years of service - a man - regardless of age
2. Age pension - by age or length of service - by activities/ sectors
The workers in the country are employed in different sectors and perform different working tasks. Therefore, it is necessary the law to provide several retirement conditions for different categories of workers (construction, textile, miners, administration etc). If different retirement conditions are determined, workers shall have the right to choose, it will depend only on the will of the employee under what conditions she/he will want to retire. and shall not be applied mandatory.
3. Early Age pension
It is proposed to introduce the right to early retirement workers who would be eligible after the age of 60, with a minimum of 15 years of service.
Beneficiaries of early retirement pensions may be workers who work but cannot continue to work for certain reasons (health, work, and cannot be declared disabled due to bankruptcy or liquidation) or are unemployed and meet the requirement - minimum 15 years of work experience. This type of pension would be realized only at the will and request of the employee.
This retirement requirement in almost all European Union countries is known as a general retirement condition and it is met at the age of 60.
4. Incomplete Age pension
• to enable workers to pay the pension and disability insurance contribution themselves if they have not met the requirement of at least 15 years of service,
• the right to self-payment of the contribution, to be applied to workers who lack up to 3 years of work experience from the minimum 15, and meet the age requirement (62, i.e. 64 years).
5. Introduction of beneficial years of service for construction workers as well as other activities where work tasks take place in particularly difficult working conditions that are detrimental to the life and health of workers.
These are part of the demands of CCM that will be discussed at today's meeting at the highest level, with the Prime Minister and the Ministries of the Government and at the same time I am optimistic that we will find mutual solutions, because our demands are real and sustained, and are for the good of both the workers and employers.
The Prime Minister Zoran Zaev during the meeting said:
"We are striving for the same goal - to realize a minimum wage of 20.000,00 MKD, which fulfills the demand of CCM for a minimum wage which is almost 60% of the average wage, and the average net wage we expect to grow up to 34.000,00 MKD by the end of our mandate."
The Prime Minister Zaev stressed that the Government continues to nurture the principles of justice, partnership and inclusion, investing in workers who, as Zaev said, are the driving force of the economy, and announced new measures in the field of social security.
"We are fully committed to protecting workers’ rights and the new Labor Law shall contain the European labor trends. The fixed-term employment contracts will be only in exceptionally objective conditions and with a duration of up to 1 year.
By stabilizing the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund, we guarantee regular and sustainable payment of pensions. We are introducing the possibility for early retirement up to a maximum of 5 years before exercising the right to a pension. We do not forget the vulnerable categories either. We will introduce a state social pension for every person over 65 years of age who has lived on the territory of our country for the last 20 years and does not meet the conditions for old-age pension. "We will also enable for the older agricultural population, with 15 years of experience and 64 years of age, to receive pension with beneficial years of service," said Prime Minister Zaev.
Referring to the protection and promotion of the rights of the working women, the Prime Minister Zaev underlined that they are committed to guaranteed return to the same job position after the maternity leave and retention of that position in the next year, as well as joint use of parental leave of both parents for the first 1-3 months of the maternity leave.
At the end, the Prime Minister Zaev assured the representatives of the Federation of Trade Unions that during the pandemic with COVID-19, the Government will continue to take all necessary measures to protect all workers and their jobs.
"Our concern for the workers and workers' rights continues with stricter, thorough and regular control of the working hours. Sunday will be a non-working day for all who want to be with their families, and we will ensure full realization of the right to vacation. "With this meeting, we reaffirm our strong will to be a true social partner of all progressive actors in our country and to invest in human capital."
VIDEO FROM THE STATEMENTS:
