- Македонски
- English
Unfortunately, a big disappointment, there is no prospect of increasing the minimum wage. What we heard inside is that the CSM demanded a lot, that the workers demand a lot and that they have had enough, that with those wages we should be happy that we receive them.
The workers in Macedonia seemed to expect too much and when you expect too much you get big disappointments!
Due to the short period of time that the MPs and the Government have at their disposal until the elections are called, the Macedonian workers will probably remain with the lowest wages in the region, that is, below the bottom, if there is a bottom, Macedonia is below the bottom with wages.
The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia will stand by him and demand an increase in payments. The Federation of Trade Unions in Macedonia has shown in the past that the previous government held a general strike in the public sector and in this way increased the salaries of all employees in the public sector by an additional 10 percent, it has protested a huge number of times and in the coming period the same thing may happen, but we think that through social dialogue we can achieve a solution. The solution is to get closer to the minimum wage in the region of 500 euros, BUT they do not convince us that the minimum wage in Macedonia has a far greater purchasing power than half of Europe. Probably the officials live better than half of Europe with their 79% increased salaries.
I am very sorry that only we are left to fight for an increase in salaries in Macedonia, the other unions, unfortunately, which you will have the opportunity to ask what they requested at today's session of the Economic and Social Council, did not request absolutely anything, that is, they agreed with everything the Government said.
That is why there were raids on the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia in the past period, so that the Government could find a half-hearted union with which to sit at the same table with it and support its government policies to the detriment of the workers, they found such a half-hearted union and good luck to those members of that union.
We as the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia, no matter how much they attack us, will probably continue to be attacked in the coming period as was the case since the beginning of the year just for demanding a salary.
Between salary and politics, there is a 79% increase in official salaries and 0% increase in worker salaries, when we reach those 79% official salaries, then we will talk and we will talk about salary as if it were completely about politics until then and they can excuse us for using the dictionary.
We organized a general strike against the previous Government, because we were asked internally where we were to tell the previous Government that salaries were low in Macedonia.
I will remind you of two things, on December 12th we went out on the ice to protest for a 18,000 denars minimum wage and in March, before the session of the Economic and Social Council, we protested from the Chamber of Commerce to the Government to receive a 18,000 denars minimum wage.
In the public sector, in July 2023, we successfully ended the General Strike with a holiday pay for the entire public sector and an additional 10% increase in salaries for the entire public sector.
What I have emphasized and will emphasize again and again is that the Confederation of Trade Unions of Macedonia did not bend its spine, did not kneel down and did not cut off the head of the previous Government, and we will not allow this government to do so either.
We are worried, the standard of living is really low, they want to tell us what to buy, where to shop, how much to buy, how much to eat, how much to drink, they don't want to tell us how much they will increase our salaries, they don't want to tell us that with 400 euros minimum wage or 24,400 denars it is difficult to live in Macedonia.
Probably, if I am not misunderstood, probably with 100 or 150 thousand denars official juice of prices that everyone participates in and those who are not watching us through your cameras but also us who are here in the hot sun, the difference between us and them is that today we are holding a press conference outside on the pavement in front of the government, and they were holding it inside, the difference is so big that the workers should support us.
They internally believe that only Slobodan is demanding an increase in the minimum wage and that only SSM and these five people, or five other people from SSM are demanding an increase in workers' salaries, and they internally believe that we are looking at the world incorrectly or that workers in Macedonia live in the wrong country, and some of them also live in the European Union for higher wages, or that someone else is the reason.
