At the invitation of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) a meeting was organized and held at the Workers' Home in Skopje between the President of SSM, Mr. Slobodan Trendafilov, Mr. Anton Leppik, Executive Secretary of ITUC - PERC, Ms. Enisa Salimovic from ITUC – PERC, Coordinator of the ITUC South-East European Office and Mr. Magnus Berge, Technical Specialist of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Office for Central and Eastern Europe for Workers’ Organisations.
The senior representatives of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Pan-European Regional Council (ITUC-PERC) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) requested to first become more concretely acquainted with the procedure that resulted in the illegal confiscation of the building known as the Workers’ Home which has been owned by SSM for decades and represents Macedonian trade union symbol, then with all current events and developments related to the trade union struggle for wage growth in the country and last but not least with all activities undertaken by SSM as part of their annual work plans and program.
In his introductory speech, President Trendafilov introduced the attendees of the meeting with all activities that SSM has undertaken to protect its trade union property before the national courts and other institutions in the country, as well as for the proceedings that SSM has initiated before The European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg. He especially thanked for the solidarity, cooperation, support and professional assistance that was selflessly provided by the representative of ETUC, ITUC and ILO during this period as a very challenging one for SSM, facing a serious violation of its rights.
In continuation, President Trendafilov talked about the activities of SSM and the demands for a higher minimum wage, for increasing all wages in the state, for the implementation of the General Collective Agreement for the public sector, for the signing of the General Collective Agreement for the private sector and for the revival and enhancing of the social dialogue in the country, which lately is facing a standstill, especially since the new Government has been formed.
The senior representatives of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Pan-European Regional Council (ITUC-PERC) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) thanked for the invitation and once again expressed their solidarity and support to SSM. They offered all kinds of professional help and legal assistance from their team of experts that in the future might be needed, especially in the proceedings initiated before the international institutions for the protection of the trade union property, the Workers' home owned by SSM for decades, as it was stated above.
At the same time, they noted that they are up to date with all activities of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) regarding the implementation and protection of labor rights, especially emphasizing the need to establish an open and serious social dialogue between the new Government, trade unions and employers' organisations, as a tool for improving the democratic progress of the country.
