A PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE AMENDMENTS TO THE LAW ON MINIMUM WAGE

10/28/2014

Caption 1. President Mitrevski on the press conference

Today in the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia a press conference on the latest amendments to the Law on Minimum Wage, adopted by the Economic and Social Council and the Government of Republic of Macedonia was held, attended by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Dime Spasov and the President of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia, PhD Zivko Mitrevski.

Upon request of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia and based on the need for strengthening the mechanism for payment of minimum wage to workers in the country, as well as protecting workers’ interests, the new amendments foresee that if a state labor inspector concludes that the employee is paid a lower amount of the minimum wage, the employer first is obliged within seven days to pay the minimum wage, on the contrary the employer shall be fined in amount of 8.000- 9.000 Euros in Macedonian currency. If the employer repeats the offence within one year, i.e. not paying minimum wage to a worker, he/she shall be fined from 9.000 to 10.000 Euros in Macedonian currency and the state labor inspector shall issue a decision prohibiting activities of the employer within a period of 15 days during which he/she shall be obliged to pay minimum wage and social contributions of the workers. The amendments to the Law on minimum wage also provide fines for the responsible person within the employer in the amount of 4.000 to 5.000 Euros in Macedonian currency. These draft amendments are completely in the interest and protection of employees' rights in the Republic Macedonia, said Minister Spasov.

In his speech, PhD Mitrevski said that the central objective of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia is implementing the concept of a minimum wage. With the amendments we want to achieve the following: preventing the abuse of some employers; elimination of unfair competition; increasing the integrity of employers; reducing the additional costs of employers who do not respect the law; reduction of gray economy and crime; further care for the living standards of the poorest and most vulnerable categories in the society, emphasized President Mitrevski.