- Македонски
- English
The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia submitted a proposal to the coordinators of the parliamentary groups, which we submit in full in this announcement:
"Dear,
Allow us to address you, as elected representatives of workers and citizens in the legislature, in Parliament.
As the Union of Trade Unions of Macedonia, which has 70,000 workers as members and as the only representative of workers in the public sector, we are surprised that the proposer of the Budget for 2023, the Government through the Ministry of Finance, has not provided funds for harmonizing wages with the increase on the minimum wage, nor means to mitigate the inflationary shock as European countries do, those European countries where our workers are rapidly moving out because of such bad government policies.
The fact that the Government has provided insignificant funds for increasing the salaries of public sector employees is worrying, and only for those categories for which, with the increase in the minimum wage next year, their salaries will remain below it, and it has provided almost no means for payment of allowances and salary supplements established by law and collective agreements.
We believe that all MPs should follow the example of the biggest trade unionist among the ministers in the Government, the Minister of Finance, Fatmir Besimi, who at the beginning was the biggest opponent of increasing wages in the public sector according to the increase of the minimum wage and against the linear increase of wages by 2806 denars as much as the workers demanded and which was one of the main reasons for organizing a general strike in the public sector that is still going on in the public sector, in order later through the law, to achieve and you to vote for an increase in the salary of the employees in the Ministry of Finance for 30%, a commendable act that we believe you should follow when adopting the Budget for 2023 and thus meet your voters, i.e. employees in the public sector, to more easily cope with the high inflation that compared to the last year is a huge 19.8% according to official data from the State Office for statistics, and the Union minimum basket calculated by the SSM for the survival of a four-member family household is 51,514.00 denars for the month of October, or from it only for food and drinks, 19,421.00 denars are needed, which even the minimum wage no longer covers in wholeness.
The growth of inflation gives a serious blow to the purchasing power of workers and leads to the complete impoverishment of the entire population and already makes it impossible for workers and citizens to provide themselves with a dignified life, and with this proposed Budget for the year 2023, it will further contribute to the indignity of living in Macedonia, the workers, despite the fact that they work, are poor and cannot feed their children and families.
We believe that you, as a corrector of such bad policies of the Government which obviously does not care about its employees, should think about your role and your responsible function which the citizens and we the workers have enabled you to perform and contribute with proposed amendments to the committee discussion after the Budget for 2023, to propose amendments to increase the amount of money by at least 15% in the salaries, allowances and allowances for all employees in the public sector whose salary is covered by the Budget, and thus you value the work of the health workers who unfortunately did not receive any adjustment of their salaries with the increase of the minimum wage this year, and who in the past few years with their work protected your health and your lives and the lives of all citizens during the Covid pandemic – 19, the employees of the police, administration and judiciary, the army to whom with a discriminatory approach, the government in period, without any criteria and without any methodology, he increased their salaries by 1, 2, 3, 5 or 10%.
We believe that all of you should follow the methodology of the Minister of Finance, Besimi, who increased the salaries of the employees in his ministry and thus, especially the MPs from the ruling majority who voted against the amendments to the SSM and the workers in the rebalancing of the budget and are fiercely opposed to providing funds in the same for 2806 denars for all workers in the public sector for harmonizing salaries with the minimum wage, which is also the reason for their Government to have a strike in the public sector that lasts the longest in the history of the State, and at the same time, they caused all the workers through SSM to sue the State before domestic and international courts and institutions.
We ask you, as representatives of the people in the Parliament, to propose amendments to the Budget in accordance with your competencies and business opportunities at the committee hearing, through which for all employees in the public sector, for whom no funds are provided in the Budget for salary increases, funds for harmonizing and increasing salaries by a minimum of 15%, while following the example of the Minister of Finance Besimi and thus preventing the Government from a discriminatory approach to its employees, because the linear increase in salaries was not a solution for it, and the percentage increase in wages is a solution according to their already established principles, which both you as the creators of the laws and we as the representatives of the workers will follow.
The workers do not easily forget which 8 MPs from the ruling majority betrayed them during the rebalancing of the Budget for 2022, i.e. who voted against the workers' amendment, so they will not forget now, just as they did not forget the MPs who supported the workers and for the amendment for harmonizing wages and for the amendment to increase the minimum wage.
We expect all MPs to unanimously propose and vote for the improvement of the labor standard, especially at a time of inflation, which is at its highest level in the past 25 years.
In the name of solidarity, with trade union greetings, we invite you all to stand together in defense of dignity in the life of workers.
With respect, "
