INFORMATION TO ALL UNION MEMBERS JOINED IN THE FEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS OF MACEDONIA REGARDING THE PAYMENT OF ANNUAL LEAVE ALLOWANCES

Statement of the President of CCM, PhD Zivko Mitrevski for TV Sitel- 05/27/2014

On 27/05/2014 the President of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia, PhD Zivko Mitrevski gave the following statement for TV Sitel:

From July 1 the payment for the annual leave allowance is starting in the private sector. Whether it is a small, medium or large enterprise, this right applies to all employees who work at least 6 months at same employer.
This is the return of a right that we sincerely believed that all workers in the country should have. The amount of the allowance is at least 40 % of net salary paid in the last three months, or about 8501 MKD. It means that this obligation has begun.

The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia in the coming days will begin to run the campaign for the payment of this right. This call is open to all employees who are members of the unions affiliated in CCM if they have issues with the payments to call the branch unions affiliated in CCM. Also, this is a call to all workers in Macedonia who work in the private sector to join trade unions affiliated in CCM. We will guarantee the right of annual leave allowance.

We consider that we can not speak of any financial burden, because it is an amount of 8501 MKD, which is the lowest amount that can be paid and by the collective agreements at branch level and at the employers level a greater amount can be paid. If we compare with the wage and the minimum wage it can be noted that it is a right which is present everywhere in the world no matter whether it is called annual leave allowance or payment of wages for vacation. I think that all socially responsible companies regularly paid this and will continue to pay.
I can say that all socially responsible companies respect this right. In these companies we do not have problems and we sincerely do not expect to have, including those companies which we left an opportunity the minimum wage paid to be paid in grace periods (textiles, leather and footwear), because with the Organization of Employers of Macedonia we have had a long negotiation on the establishment of this right.

Regarding the signing of the General Collective Agreement for employees in the public sector negotiations are still ongoing and after the new Governmental formation we do expect these negotiations to be continued but there we are speaking of another dimension where wages are much higher.

The Labor Law stipulates sanctions for non-implementation of the acts of collective agreements regarding the payment of certain rights and the exercise of labor rights.

The minimum fines begin with thousand Euros and reach 4 thousand Euros but the penalties are much greater if you take into account that we will guide these lawsuits and if we take into account the procedures and costs for expert witnesses and other costs. In this case the cost will be far greater. We do not expect such problems but openly urge all workers to react if they have some problems. If they become members of the union we will offer our free legal protection and guarantee the payment of this right. This will be part of the campaign that CCM plans to lead.