Skopje, 19 September 2023 (MIA) — The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia has called on lawmakers to refrain from "political battles" and quickly adopt the proposed budget revision so public sector employees get 10 percent raises as of September – and the Trade Union of Administration, Judiciary and Citizens' Associations has submitted to Parliament an amendment to the proposal requesting that all budget users' salaries be raised by 30 up to 78 percent, or as high as officials' raises, representatives of the public sector unions told a news conference Tuesday.

Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia leader Slobodan Trendafilov urged government ministers, mayors and directors of institutions to abide by the General Collective Agreement for the public sector, citing employees' complaints that management was not acting on the provision to increase their wages by an additional 10 percent.

Trendafilov also said Parliament had not responded to his union's motion filed more than a month ago to reduce lawmakers' salaries and the salaries of judges and appointed officials, which had been increased by 78 percent.

The union's motion called for the Law on Salaries of Elected and Appointed Officials to be amended so that the General Collective Agreement would apply to them, as well, as of March 2025. Although this had been negotiated before the General Collective Agreement was signed, he said, since July, officials had "turned a deaf ear" to this request.

"Even while negotiating the General Collective Agreement, we were saying what we are saying today – employees will not be satisfied to get 10 percent raises while officials undeservedly, without any increased productivity after increasing their salaries, enjoy the benefits of this shameful decision of the Constitutional Court," Trendafilov said.

He announced a "heated Fall" of protests and union strikes, such as the ongoing one of the state-owned water utility company employees protesting in front of the Government building over not getting paid in the past two months. 

Trade Union of Administration, Judiciary and Citizens' Associations leader Trpe Dejanoski announced a strike of public prosecution employees on Sept. 27. The next day, he said, the staff of all courts will be protesting in front of the Ministry of Justice and the Government.

Protesters will be demanding salary increases equal to those of appointed officials, or 78 percent, he said, noting that there are about 650 employees in prosecutor's offices and about 2,000 in courts nationwide.

The walkout will last until the demands of the employees are met, Dejanoski said. He added that during the strike only urgent matters would be addressed, in line with the law. He also said 95 percent of employees in the judiciary and state administration were receiving paychecks lower than the country's average salary.

Dejanoski stressed that his union had submitted an amendment to the budget revision proposal requesting that all budget users' salaries be raised by 30 up to 78 percent.

"Problems in the courts and prosecutor's offices have been piling up for years, and culminated in the officials' salary raises. Until March, the salary difference between employees and officials was 1:2 to 1:3, and now the difference is 1:6 to 1:7. This situation is unsustainable," Dejanoski.

He said employees of other national insitutions, too, were considering walkouts.

"We urge the authorities to invite us for negotiations, instead of ignoring us as the Minister of Justice has done. We have not had a single meeting with him since his appointment. We hope we'll solve these problems through talks. Otherwise, our strikes and protests will only intensify," the union leader said. mr/