NEW YEAR'S MEETING WITH THE JOURNALISTS
12/27/2013
President Mitrevski on the briefing for CCM’s activities in 2013
Today in CCM an annual briefing of the journalists with the President of CCM PhD Zivko Mitrevski was held. At the meeting the President of CCM summarized the activities of CCM in 2013 and informed about set goals for next year.
The most important thing is that in 2013 which was very complex year in terms of socio - economic crisis, we have managed to defend the three most important pillars: no massive layoffs, no reduction in wages and retaining of retirement age, said Mitrevski.
In terms of labor legislation upon mutual shared views of social partners in the practical application of the Labor Law several amendments have been adopted. They refer to:
Mutual dismissal – it is anticipated that the employee personally writes down the necessary data in case of amicable cancellation, which will prevent the possibility of abuse of early signing of blank documents by the employee for cancellation of an employment contract;
A fine for unregistered workers - If the employer has unregistered workers, he/she will be punished with a fine, and if they do not register the workers within 8 days, the facility where the tasks are performed will be closed. If the employer is caught with three or more undocumented workers then the facility will be closed without issuing a fine. In this period no worker should be fired and they should be paid 70 percent of wage, as well as salary contributions;
Regulations governing legal status of Migrant Workers have been specified as well as published posts, employment records for work attendance, obligatory notification of state labor inspector when introducing overtime work and introducing the work on a state holiday etc.
Regarding the recently signed general collective agreement for the private sectors of the economy a special attention is given on the annual leave allowance. It is a traditional labor law which is governed by a collective agreement, the President answered. The employee has the right of annual leave allowance and this applies to all workers in the private sector. From next year employers must pay the annual leave allowance in the amount of 40 percent.
A significant event in 2013 was the full membership of CCM in the International Confederation of Trade Unions and participation in the Pan-European Committee PERC, by which the work of CCM was legitimized internationally.
Also significant activities were the establishment of our local economic - social councils. As it is known on the celebration of the First of May we began the campaigning for the establishment of these councils in several cities in the country and there are many achievements that will continue in the next year too.
We have managed to defend the three key pillars in the midst of global economic crisis In 2014 the focus of the work of CCM will be on the adjustments to the minimum wage for which negotiations would take place with employers' organizations, chambers of commerce, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy.
Also we expect adoption of the general collective agreement for the public sector. In 2013 with the branch collective agreements we increased the wages in some industries, such as healthcare, textile and chemical industry.
Among the significant achievements are the positive changes in the labor legislation, the implementation of the conventions of the International Labour Organization and the 19 EU directives, and in that direction the labor legislation is enriched with international labor standards, was stated by the President Mitrevski among other things.