Skopje, 18 January 2023 (MIA) – Public transport enterprise (JSP) representative unions said Thursday that there will be no public transport in Skopje as of Monday unless the Council of the City of Skopje makes a decision to subsidize the enterprise.  

Union leader Mikjo Stojanovski said obligations to the service users have been fulfilled, but JSP employees have not received their December wages. 

"It is morbid and painful to reiterate the same story, but we have to fight for our employment rights. JSP Skopje employees perform their job in accordance with the plan of the City of Skopje, obligations to our service users have been completed, but the obligations to the JSP employees are intentionally or unintentionally not fulfilled, including the December wages that should have been paid within the legal deadline by January 15, but the City and the Council have failed to do that," he said. 

He called on the Council of the City of Skopje to convene a meeting in the coming days. 

"We call on the Council of the City of Skopje to convene a meeting today or tomorrow, on Saturday or Sunday, despite the great Epiphany holiday, so that a decision can be made to subsidize the public transport enterprise in the amount of EUR 11 million for the entire 2024, just as it made the decision about the budget. If this does not happen, there will be no public transport as of Monday, except maybe the lines that take children to schools," said Stojanovski. 

In terms of the City of Skopje budget for JSP subsidies, he added, it has not been adopted, although it is about funds that the City should have provided for 2023, but those funds have been repurposed for other capital investments in the City of Skopje and the employees have not received the December pay. 

Earlier on Thursday, Skopje Mayor Danela Arsovska told MIA she expects responsibility from the Council of the City of Skopje.

"I duly submitted the decisions related to the regular functioning of the budget of the City of Skopje to the Council and its president, I even called for an emergency session, regarding which he decided with his discretion, to remove from the agenda the points that were most important for the enterprises of the City of Skopje. As you can see, we requested a new extraordinary session, which has not yet been convened to this day. I hope that they will first take responsibility with the position they have, if they want to consciously destroy the enterprises, it is their responsibility, we have done everything we could on our part," said the Mayor. 

Photo: MIA