The social partners have reviewed the suggested amendment to the Labour Law, Sunday to be a non- working day on today's session of the Economic and Social Council.
The tripartite dialogue confirmed the intention of the Government and the request of SSM - Sunday to be declared a non-working day, i.e. according to what was concluded today, the text should be: "Sunday is a day for weekly rest."
The social partners agreed that certain employers/ legal entites shall work on Sunday due to the normal functioning of the state but only in certain activities and only those employers who will be able to show that the technological-production processes must not be interrupted (meaning not all employers in those particular industries). Other employers (and those employers whose technological-production processes may be interrupted in the listed activities and all employers in the activities not listed in the exceptions) will not be allowed to work.
In case they break the law and work on Sunday, then an appropriate rigorous punishment will follow.
For workers in the activities that will belong to the exceptions, employers will have to pay allowance according to the laws and collective agreements for at least an additional 50% of the daily wage and will have to determine another day which will be a day off, and SSM indicates that day should be either the day that precedes or follows the Sunday in order abuses that occur now to be reduced and to stop the possibility day of weekly rest for some workers to be on a Wednesday or other days of the week.
We welcome the approach of the Prime Minister, Zoran Zaev, the Deputy Prime Minister, Fatmir Bytyqi and the Labor and Social Policy Advisor to the Government, Milan Zivkovic who think like workers, as well as the approach of the Employers' Organization of Macedonia - ORM and the Business Confederation of Macedonia - BKM, for showing understanding and solving one of the most delicate issue of the workers, said the President of SSM, Darko Dimovski.
