- Македонски
- English
At the press-conference held today at SSM’s Workers' Home, ahead of tomorrow's scheduled large protest of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) for workers' salaries, the President of SSM, Slobodan Trendafilov, announced the protest under the motto: "January 28th is the day when workers’ speak!" and through the present media representatives, he directly addressed all workers’ and citizens, once again he called for mass participation and their presence at tomorrow's protest and as well shared the following message:
“This protest is for your salaries, because they are not enough and because you wonder how you will survive from month to month. This protest is against the injustice, because they take 10 times higher salary than yours. This protest is because they will provide for themselves a 250 euro increase in their salaries, and for you not even 25 euros.
This protest is for your children, for your daughters, for your sons. This protest is also for your nieces, for your nephews, so that we can preserve our families in Macedonia and not have them leave abroad.
This protest is against the ignorant attitude of the Government and the employers who have not agreed to increase your workers' salaries the way you deserve and demand.
This protest is for an increase in all workers' salaries by at least 6.000 denars, by increasing the minimum wage to at least 600 euros.
This protest is because they do not take care about you or your families, and you, with your right to vote, give them the luxury in which they live.
So, for all these reasons, to all those who so far have not called themselves yet and who still doubt if they should participate in this protest, I take this opportunity today to call on you to join us tomorrow at the big workers' protest on the streets, which will start at 5 pm in front of the Workers' Home or SSM’s building.
Dress warmly, put on a hat, a scarf and come to the street in the dark with the workers’ so that no one recognizes you if they have already threaten you and if you are scared.
Remember that you should not be afraid of anyone, because you owe absolutely nothing to anyone, but on the contrary, you only owe to yourselves and your families to be able to live a decent life together.
I call on all of you, both trade unionists and workers’, but also pensioners who also receive pensions from the workers' salaries, from the contributions that we pay from them, to join us because in January alone you are poorer by 1000 denars.
In two years, as long as the Government refuses to increase your salary and as long as employers refuse to agree with workers’ to increase your salary, you are poorer by 9.500 denars or you are poorer as much as the value of the Trade Union Minimum Basket calculated by SSM, clearly showing growth every passing month.
There are many arguments, but the truth is that they have no excuses.
The arrogance of certain people from the Government means keeping you in poverty, because 200.000 of you live on a salary of less than thirty thousand denars. Imagine if ten percent of them decide to take the streets tomorrow and decide to join us, how quickly things could change and how quickly salaries would increase.
I encourage you not to be afraid of anyone and to stand shoulder to shoulder with the trade unionists, with the workers’ and to support them even if you have a higher salary, because we are also fighting for your salary to increase by at least 6.000 denars.
We are even fighting for the salaries of the critics, for the salaries of those who attacked us in the past days, so that their salaries can also increase by at least 6.000 denars. Let them go on their own and ask their managers, directors, officials, ministers for a salary increase and see how they go from being favorites to becoming their biggest enemies.
Tomorrow is the day when the workers’ speak, and how loudly they speak depends on you.
We will be on the streets and that is why I once again call on you to join us with your families, with your colleagues with whom you often talk about how difficult life is in Macedonia, how it is hard to survive from month to month, how your salaries should be increased.
Tomorrow, your presence on the streets will speak louder than any discussion you have had with the members of your families and with your colleagues at your workplaces.
Please understand that others count us and that others think that if you do not come, you are giving them enormous support for them not to increase your salary and that you live well and that you only want and need to talk about nice things, but the reality is different, and they, they have not taken off their rose-colored glasses and that is why we will see you on the streets tomorrow at 5 pm in front of the symbol of the workers' struggle - the Workers' Home of SSM.
From there we continue to the Parliament where the members of the Parliament were and are still blind and deaf to the proposal of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia to increase your salaries, when they have salaries in the amount of two, two and a half and three thousand euros.
Then we will continue to the bosses who are the biggest culprits and who in these 36 years have evicted most of your friends, comrades, families from Macedonia…and of course we will end up in front of the Government, which as a symbol in these 36 years as well has done absolutely nothing for the workers’.
We must loudly say that salaries in Macedonia are miserable, that officials provide luxury for themselves on the backs of the poor people.
The workers must understand that only together we can fight for workers' rights.
