At the initiative of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia, the Law on Minimum Wage was adopted in order to protect workers from excessively low salaries paid in the country, and at the same time, the minimum wage represent an element of the policies for eradicating poverty and reducing inequality, promoting the right to equal remuneration for work of the same value.
CCM believes that there is a room to increase the minimum wage that currently stands at 12.165,00 denars.
We remind that according to the Law, in March, there will be a legal harmonization of the minimum wage according to the determined criteria, which the Minister of Labor and Social Policy will publish in the Official Gazette after the previous opinion of the Economic and Social Council, through a social dialogue with the active participation of the trade unions as representatives of workers.
The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia is continuously advocating and demanding an increase in the minimum wage in order to improve the standard of the workers with the lowest salaries and their families.
CCM points out that in conditions when the Trade Union Minimum Basket for January 2019 is 32.761,00 denars, and only the costs for food are 13.621,33 denars, there is a real need to increase the minimum wage that according to the European recommendations and trends should be 60% the average salary in the state.
CCM’s calculations show that there is a need to increase the minimum wage by at least 12%, which will bring us closer to the European minimum wage trend, taking into account the country's efforts for faster integration into the European family.
The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia is ready to start a social dialogue regarding this proposed increase in the minimum wage that will be the basis for increasing the salaries of all employees.
