- Македонски
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At the press conference held today at SSM Workers' Home, following the successful implementation of one of the most massive workers' protests of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) for higher workers' salaries, which took place on January 28 (Wednesday) under the motto: "January 28 is the day when workers’ speak!" and which was attended by thousands of workers and citizens, who took the streets together with SSM to speak loudly, without fear, and to demand an immediate increase in the minimum wage to 600 euros and an increase in all other salaries by at least 6.000 denars, the President of SSM, Slobodan Trendafilov, firstly addressed and sent a message to all participants in the protest:
-“Dear workers’, allow me at the beginning of this press conference to congratulate Your courage, the courage of those thousands of workers who two days ago took the streets to say that we can no longer live with miserable wages, that the minimum wage must be increased to at least 600 euros and that all the other wages must follow this growth and be increased by at least 6.000 denars, as requested by the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia”.
In addition, as it was announced even before the large Workers’ Protest was held, President Trendafilov shared with the public all information related to the existing threats, blackmail, bans and obstacles to workers all in order to prevent them from coming out and attending the protest, so in continuation, he said:
-"As we announced on the day of the protest, today all information about the existing pressures, threats and blackmail made against people, made against workers just to prevent them for taking to the streets, will be shared with the general public through this press-conference. Although we must emphasize that despite those threats and blackmail, a huge number of them were encouraged and no matter what came out to support the protest and SSM, so first of all, you will allow me to mention those who from one side have also mentioned us, and from other side were also the same ones who are direct perpetrators of the already mentioned threats and blackmail against workers’. Namely, after the end of the protest at the Macedonian Post Office, where a huge number of workers’ came out to protest for their salaries, because they were not paid by the 15th of the month (the legal deadline) and because they were left to survive without a salary in the month of January when having the most important holidays of the year, a certain Deputy General Director Nikolcho Ugrinov appeared on television and threatened me personally that he would file lawsuits and reports against me, just because I as the president of the biggest trade union stood with the workers’ and because he was forced to pay out to the workers’ their salaries the day we held the protest. I want to send the following message... When you appoint political poltroons to such important positions just so the same poltroon can take a salary from the taxes that we, the workers’, pay, and then they themselves when in position of power threaten the workers, I think you should immediately dismiss them. Additionally, in Macedonian Post Office, according to my information from colleagues-members of our trade union organizations, there is terror and pressure on employees just because they were encouraged and went out on the streets, just because they first went out to the protest in front of the Macedonian Post Office and then went out on the streets in support of SSM’s protest for an increase in their salaries, because believe or not 70% of the workers’ working at the Macedonian Post Office do not receive a salary higher than the minimum wage… all those workers work for the minimum wage and this wage is not even slightly enough for them and their families to survive. To be honest, during the day of the Protest, also appeared a second executive director at the tobacco company Tutunski Kombinat AD Prilep who went after the workers’, called them in his office, forbade them from going to the protest in Skopje and threatened them that if they do go to the protest and they didn’t sign accession papers in the trade union KSS ( yellow trade union supported from the political party in power) and did not end their membership at the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) that they will face repressions, layoffs, salary reductions, job relocations. According to the information that reached SSM and as I mentioned on the day of the protest, this second executive director of the tobacco company Tutunski Kombinat AD Prilep used to be part of the political party SDSM, and today he is in VMRO-DPMNE or the political party in power, and I want to publicly ask whether this is true or not. We have also received information about other managements of public institutions that tried to undermine the workers' protest, but they did not mention us by name so far, nevertheless we will mention them in the period that follows, because we are waiting for an official confirmation of the data about them directly from our trade union organizations.
The President of SSM Trendafilov also referred to the actions and activities of KSS, which, as a trade union, are obviously fighting for the officials in power, instead of fighting for the workers. So in this matter, he said:
"It is regrettable that the Confederation of Free Trade Unions KSS, through the media, a few days before one of the biggest workers' protest for an increase in the salaries of all the workers in the country, including their own members, came out with the position that there was no need for such radical steps because the salaries of employees had increased by 20%. Regarding this statement I just want to say…if only one worker - a member of the Confederation of Free Trade Unions has had his salary increased by 20%, then fine… but if not, they should immediately leave that confederation, because the term “free” should obviously be replaced with “captured”. It is quite obvious that they sound more like a Confederation of Captured Unions than free ones, because the president of the same confederation stressed during a debate show on TV 24 that the salaries of the officials are the ones that are low and that these salaries should be further increased and that the officials cannot have a salary of just 1000 euros. That same president did not say that he will fight for the workers’ salaries, he will probably beg only for the Government’s benefit and for the salaries of the officials, he is probably blackmailed, and most of the public already knows about this fact. We will not allow union members to work against other unions and against the workers’. We’ve got the support of SONK (branch trade union in KSS) from Delchevo and the colleagues which are their members, who wanted to join the protests and who at the end have joined it and in huge numbers, but what is not understandable is how the regional representative of SONK from Delchevo despite the wishes of his members, came out with a statement that there was no need to take to the streets to protest and that the situation in the education is good. He did this on the very day of the protest, just to dissuade people from participating in it and just to dissuade people from their intention to fight for higher wages, because apparently these so-called unionists want people to beg and not to fight. Additionally, we have received information about a female president of a trade union, also union (created with the support of the political party in power) at the Macedonian Post Office, which has been formed recently under some suspicious circumstances and for which I am requesting that the State Labor Inspectorate conduct an inspection, especially on the fact about how they suddenly managed to gather the necessary number of members, how they went after the workers’, how they threatened the workers’ just to made them come out of the union that was already at the Macedonian Post Office, Sonja Dojchinovska, who also mention us one day before the protest and who did everything to prevent her colleagues from the Macedonian Post from joining it, when the management there left 1.700 families without a salary in the month of January”.
-"I want to clearly emphasize that the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) will not bow down to anyone, and the workers showed a day ago that they are not afraid of anyone either. I want to tell them that this is just the beginning. They can put pressure on us, they can try to threaten us, but we, thousands of us who went out together on the streets and protested shoulder to shoulder, showed them that we are not afraid of them. To be honest, the Prime Minister in an interview a day before the workers' protest indicated that this was not a protest for a salary increase, but that it was a protest with the sole purpose of harming the Government. The same Government that he leads, a Government that leads the poorest people in Europe and a Government that leads the poorest country in Europe. I want to ask them: Do they think that if the workers are poor, it also harms the reputation of the Government, so they ignore the demands of the workers’ and are ashamed of them?"
-"I want to continue with a very important topic that was raised yesterday from the Hall in the national Assembly by a representative of the Government and on television and in political party announcements... I want to tell the workers, and I want to tell the people in the Government that the graffiti written on the Ministry of Culture best reflects the current situation in the country, and this graffiti says "This Government is reckless and lazy". How is it that this Government and the representative of the Government wanted and still wants to give the workers a 40% increase in their wages, but the trade union, that is, we, didn’t want it and didn’t accept it, so they didn’t increase the wages, and hence the workers did not receive the much-needed and desired wage increase... I want to ask them did they think of this now, after a year, and at the very moment when we are protesting on the streets. They thought of this as strategy to bid on increasing the workers' wages, to say whatever amounts, one day after the big protest that scared them, but allow me to add something else... Their clocks are probably running very fast, I want to remind them that Macedonia is in 2026 today, the same place and time where the whole world is, but they live in 2028 when, according to the Government Representative, the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia was to blame because the workers’, imagine in 2028, will not receive a 600 euro minimum wage. To these statements, I will only say... Friends come back from the future, and come to the reality, we are protesting for a 600 euro minimum wage today, not for a 600 euro minimum wage in 2028. I also call on the Government representative, and I said the same thing on the TV debate two days ago, we wait for him on Monday at 9am to come to SSM to sign the Collective Agreement that increases the salaries of all employees by 40% as stated in their political party announcements and also instead of 2028, to increase the minimum wage starting this February 2026. We are waiting for him, but what if he doesn’t come... What will they do then? We invite him through you, the media, to come and increase the salaries, which according to their own expressed manipulations SSM was the one who refused their increase, when we are the ones who took the streets and are protesting and telling them from the streets that they are not increasing the salaries and that they must do so immediately. We don't want them to say later that there are any political intentions in our actions, but what is clear is that the workers have united around poverty, around miserable wages and around the fight for a dignified life and I want to congratulate those who work in the public relations department of the Government, who come up with these nonsense and who caused the Government representative, one member of the Parliament and one spokesperson from the political party in power to serve as a laughing stock for the majority of citizens in Macedonia for a year now, because when they go on television and when they say these nonsense everyone laughs at them, but it's not funny anymore. The workers are asking you for bread, and you are eating cakes, mango, papaya, baby beef, Seafood among other exclusive meals. Therefore, next week they should prepare for the blockades that we are preparing, and we are asking for the support of all workers. You will ask why next week… because they have time to come to their senses to act and not remain silent to the workers’ demands as are now silent about their own officials salaries that will increase…. We have the Governor of the National Bank who said that their officials wage increase will be about 9.2%, because the increase in the average salary in 2025 is 9.2%, so I use this opportunity to congratulate him too because his salary will increase by more than 300 euros. I also want to say that when you comment on the workers and say how their salaries should not be increased, first you must go out on the streets and look them in the eyes, if you can’t do that, use the media and see the reports they are making because in them the people tell you that life is hard and they can’t live with such low wages!”
When asked by the press about the next steps that the SSM will take, the President of the SSM Trendafilov stated that:
-“Next week, as we announced during the big protest, we will start with blockades. The members of the Parliament will probably be the first ones that we will block, because they have been blocking us all year. They keep the Law in a drawer and do not want to increase the salaries of the workers. There is a huge probability that next week they will come to work by bus and on foot, the way most of the workers come to their work places without the right to travel expenses. We will wait to greet them to tell them that they should vote and to remind them that they are there as members of the Assembly because of us and that we were the ones who elected them. That will be the next step that the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia will take, we will announce the complete information on Monday immediately after the signing of the Collective agreement with the Government Representative that we invited and in that way we will increase the salaries of all employees by 40%, increase the minimum wage to 600 euros and will increase the salaries of the remaining employees by 6.000 denars. We will announce this at a joint press conference, because the Government will take such a step and will extend a hand to the workers and the members of the Parliament won’t do that, and therefore because of this reason we will block the members of the Parliament first. So, next week they will have to walk to work for a start, as the workers walk to work every day or they will have to come by public transport, same way as the workers do and all that as I said is just for a start. Since they will be forced to walk or come to work by public transport, they will not be able to collect travel expenses on that day, and I will ask the President of the Assembly to inform us which member of the Parliament requested travel expenses for that day. We will simply hit them in the pocket, same way as we, the workers, have been hit all year, before we take actions to reduce their salary”.
In response to a journalist's question about the announced general strike in the public and private sectors, which the SSM announced as a possible future step during the protest, the President of the SSM stated that:
-"According to the Law, a representative trade union at the level of a territory in the public and private sectors, such as the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM), can make a decision to organize a strike, initiate and call for a general strike in order to protect the economic and social interests of the workers, and the greatest economic interest of workers is their salary. The decision to initiate and start a general strike, which the workers are asking us to be for a duration of 24 hours, will protect all workers who will not perform their work duties that day, who will not go to work, who will decide to take to the streets that day, just like their colleagues in France, Greece, and Belgium do, just to show every boss that they are no longer afraid and that they will not remain silent. In such a situation, the trade unions and the Law protect the workers. Only necessary tasks that need to be performed will be determined, and we have experience for that from 2022 when we had a general strike in the public sector during the previous Government. Health services, task that are important for the security will be listed as activities that, according to the Law, have a duty and obligation to perform part of their work tasks so that we do not find ourselves in an unpleasant situation. But, everyone else will have the full right to stand behind the decision for a general strike, they will have the full right to come to the streets, not to perform their work tasks at their workplaces and in this way show their employers, the bosses, the officials what the employee thinks of them, because we suffer their opinion of the workers every day.”
