Skopje, 22 June 2022 (MIA) – Members of the Federation of Trade Unions (SSM) began on Wednesday a general strike, demanding Mden 2,806 linear wage increase for public sector employees and restoring the right to annual leave allowance as of 2023. On Wednesday morning, SSM arranged 120 chairs in front of the Parliament to remind MPs to accept their amendment to the budget revision for a linear wage increase in the public and the private sectors. The chairs will stay there until 2 pm. “As we have announced, the public sector is in a nationwide strike across Macedonia today, and SSM is calling on MPs to support the amendment for Mden 2,806 for all workers immediately, i.e. as of July 1, because we need that money with everything that’s been going on – double-digit inflation, price hikes, energy crisis, the 10% increase in electricity prices. I’d like to encourage workers to fight for their rights and existence, which we all need to do right now,” SSM President Darko Dimovski said. Dimovski pointed out that the MPs who won’t support workers by approving the amendment will be called to resign based on SSM’s legitimate right as representative of the workers. As regards the situation on the ground, regional secretaries of the SSM faced pressure from a company, but once they showed their strike paperwork, they faced no other issues. “However, it’s also noteworthy that certain institutions and companies are already signing deals to give an additional Mden 2,806 to their employees starting from July 1. We have all sorts of situations, but at the end of the day at 1 PM, our regional secretaries will submit reports, and everywhere where workers and striking boards are pressured will suffer the same fate as the MPs. We will openly publish the names of the directors and managers that pressure us not to strike,” he added. According to the SSM President, the Parliament was chosen today to “pressure the MPs who did not vote for the amendment, and tomorrow, 21 chairs will be placed in front of the Government, to remind them to accept it too”. In the negotiations with the Government, it has been agreed to sign a collective public sector agreement starting from July 1, but the authorities never responded, so SSM members feel deceived. The public sector strike will go on every day from 10-11:00. They will stop work and take to the streets. Only 10% of employees will keep working in case of emergencies. The strike will go on until demands are met. dk/nn/