ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE PROJECT "STRENGTHENING THE CAPACITIES OF THE ORGANIZATION OF EMPLOYERS OF MACEDONIA ON THE ROAD TOWARDS EU"
02/20/2012

Today at the "Holiday Inn" hotel in Skopje the Conference was held "Social dialogue and the role of employers in the EU", being the final conference of the project "Strengthening the capacity of ORM on the road towards EU."
The project was conducted in the past 12 months with financial assistance of the European Union, while ORM’s partner was the Regional Development Agency Senec - Pezinok of Slovakia.
All participants at the conference stressed the importance of strengthening the social dialogue in Macedonia. Dimitar Stojanovski, Chairman of the Organization of Employers (ORM) said that the essence of ORM’s existence is representing the interests of employers in general and in social partnership.
By promoting the interests and cooperation with social partners – government and trade unions, we impact on building capacities of labour legislation through institutions of collective bargaining and Collective Agreements.
Robin Lidell, Acting Ambassador of the EU mission in Macedonia, said that social dialogue is an important element of European social model, which governs industrial relations in EU countries. In the EU there are over 300 joint texts or agreements regulating maternity leaves, part-time work, extended working hours and other issues. Ambassador Lidell has stressed the importance of civil society, which is a bridge between the three social partners.
Minister of Labour and Social Policy Spiro Ristovski said that social dialogue is a mean of consensus between social partners and plays a major role in the economic sphere and the way towards EU. For effective social dialogue strengthening the capacities and resources of the social partners are necessary. The Government of Macedonia will support all reforms in the interests of workers and employers, added Minister Ristovski.
ORM’s Vice President Angel Dimitrov spoke about the importance of the Economic and Social Council. For an efficient social dialogue the cooperation and constructiveness between social partners is crucial.