Skopje, 18 July 2023 (MIA) - The Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Macedonia (KSS) says it will not sign the general collective agreement for the public sector drafted by the Government, regarding which the Government's Economic and Social Council is set to hold another session later on Tuesday.

KSS President Blagoja Ralpovski told a press conference earlier on Tuesday that during talks with the ministers, no agreement has been reached in terms of paragraph 2 of Article 14 of the draft general collective agreement, referring to it as a "stumbling block". So far, KSS has not made the disagreement public expecting that the Government will change the paragraph by omitting it from the text which "is being hidden from the public", but to date KSS has not received a new offer. 

Paragraph 1 of Article 14 of the proposal, which KSS presented to the media, states that "the basic gross wage of public sector employees is increased by 10 percent, starting with the payment of the September wage in 2023". 

According to KSS, the second paragraph of the Articla is disputable, which states: "If the index of the cost of living in the first six months of 2024 exceeds 3 percent, the basic gross wage of public sector employees increases in a percentage amount as the difference between the realized increase in the index of the cost of living and the established rate of 3 percent". Paragraph 3 of Article 14 states that "the wage increase percentage under paragraph 2 of this article is applied with the payment of the September wage in 2024".

Ralpovski said the proposed general collective agreement is harmful for workers because it takes away many of their rights, adding that it also removes the minimum wage from the laws as of next year. 

"The "stumbling block" that is hidden from the public is the proposed Article 14, Paragraph 2 of the general collective agreement. That is the last point on which we did not reach an agreement and regarding which we were asked by the ministers not to disclose it to the public, that we will have a separate agreement. This means that in 2024, everyone who has a minimum wage, according to the laws, in the public sector, state administration, service providers, the military, etc. will be changed in the law, the minimum wage will be removed," said the KSS President. 

According to him, in this way, the next increase will be in 2025. 

"Even worse is their projection that inflation or the cost of living in 2024 will only be 2.5 percent. The public is being brazenly manipulated that our wage increase or alignment will be over 3 percent. So, if we have 4 percent inflation, the alignment will be 1 percent. As a confederation, as branch unions, we strongly opposed this and decisively rejected it. Today as well, we do not accept such a general collective agreement because public sector employees will not get any increase in all of 2024, and thus, according to their projections, the average wage increase that should be in March, will drop from 6.4 percent to below 4 percent, so the next pay rise for public sector employees in 2025 will be 3 to 4 percent," said Ralpovski. 

He added that instead of being a step forward, the proposal is two steps back.

"We are not asking for much, but same as they respect their law for officials and every year with this 10 percent, next year they will align their wages by 15-16 percent. We are also asking, in accordance with the law on minimum wage and the increase in the minimum wage, to have that legal opportunity and to align our salaries in 2024, and not to have all collective, individual collective agreements and the law on minimum wage cancelled with a general collective agreement. For KSS, this is completely unacceptable and unanimously rejected by all bodies, and we are not putting our signature on something like this. Today we will be attending the session of the Economic and Social Council, but we will be firmly against this Article that takes away a crucial right of workers and brazenly manipulates them by not increasing wages in 2024," Ralpovski said. 

KSS welcomes the new methodology on wage calculation as of 2025 and the annual leave allowance, but, Ralpovski added, it partially welcomes the alignment i.e. the wage increase of 10 percent.

Photo: MIA