Skopje, 1 May 2024 (MIA) - The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) is staging Wednesday a protest on International Workers' Day, demanding rise of wages in the private and public sector, minimum wage at EUR 450 in the first 100 days of the new government, coverage of travel and food expenses in the amount of 20 percent of the average wage etc.

SSM also demands limiting fixed-term contracts to a maximum of one year, right to a non-working Saturday and increased control of overtime work, lowering weekly working hours to 35 and cancelling the 72-hour work week on strategic projects.

The protest is set to begin in front of the Workers' Home, continue to the Parliament and end before the Government.

"Protests have become SSM's trademark as an expression of the workers' dissatisfaction from the continued practice of employers and the authorities operating in their own interests while ignoring the problems that workers and the people are faced with. We have seen that workers' wages have increased slightly and not corresponding to the rising cost of living, while public officials have seen an enormous 78-percent rise of their wages," SSM says in its May Day manifesto.

It adds that workers' rights are increasingly violated, whereas the new labor law has not been adopted for six years.

"We, the workers, tell the next government that we should build mutual relations as partners, through active participation of unions in creating national strategies and policies, and consistent observance of workers' and civil rights. Otherwise, the trend of strikes and protests as the only form of union struggle for workers' rights and interests will continue," reads the manifesto.

International Workers’ Day is marked annually on May 1 to commemorate the victims of the 1886 strike in Chicago, where protesters demanded an 8-hour workday. In 1889, a declaration was adopted at a congress of the Second International calling on workers from all around the world to protest for improvement and protection of workers’ rights.

May Day around the world is traditionally marked by protest marches. In the country, May Day is a public holiday.

MIA file photo