TURMOIL CONTINUES IN "MERMEREN KOMBINAT" - PRILEP
1/18/2013
Today there were cancelled planned negotiations for the signing of the collective agreement of the "Mermeren Kombinat" - Prilep. The management stated as a reason the absence of the lawyer’s who represent the company in the on the collective agreement, communicated Lazar Angeleski, Secretary of the regional trade union of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia in Prilep.
The scheduled meeting was attended by Trade Union Committee of the Trade Union organization in "Mermeren kombinat" and General Secretary of the Trade Union of SGIP, Blaguna Stojkoska.
Angeleski informed that on Monday, 21.01, at 17:00 at the House of Culture "Marko Cepenkov" in Prilep trade union organization will organize protest rally. Besides the employees in the company attendance and support is expected from citizens and other trade union organizations of the companies in the city.
It is known that the "Mermeren kombinat" handed 19 lay-off decisions to workers. Trade Union organization already organized strike, according to the law, but which is denied by director Ilijas Rigopulos. Among the demands is increasing of wages and reinstatement of nineteen workers.
SSM and SGIP give full support to the strikers in "Mermeren kombinat". On 20 November last year was organized three-day strike, in which SSM President Zivko Mitrevski and President Pavel Trendafilov of SGIP have joined the workers. Mitrevski publicly demanded signing of the collective agreement as a way to resolve all current and future problems in the plant, while Trendafilov supported demands for workers to increase wages and said that the strike is absolutely legal.
"Mermeren kombinat",which about 400 employees in 2009 was bought by two Greek investment funds, which bought 88.4 % of the stakes. Now the current majority owner is a Dutch investment fund "Stone Works Holdings Cooperatief". Workers say that the total increase in salary is around 40000 euros (5000 to 6000 MKD per employee), a negligible amount compared to the net profit for the first nine months of 2012 - 70.8 million euro.