One of the key requests of the Union of the workers from the administration, the judicial bodies and the citizens’ associations of the Republic of Macedonia (UPOZ) addressed to the Government is together with the amendment of the Law on Minimum Wage in summary procedure to make changes in the special laws that regulate the salaries of employees in the administration and judiciary so that the value of the minimum wage is taken as salary base and all employees to have certain level points. This way, according to UPOZ, no employee in the administration would be on the minimum wage and for the first time in history we will have a harmonization of wages with the minimum wage in the administration and the judiciary. Otherwise, they announced that they would be forced to activate the decision made in November and to express the dissatisfaction of the employees through protests or other forms of pressure for other forms of strike. With the increase of the minimum wage and the lack of hearing of the Government to gradually increase the other salaries, what the Union of UPOZ predicted will come true, and that is the collapse of the salary system in the administration and judiciary, said UPOZ head TrpeDeanoski on Wednesday.
The Union of UPOZ pointed out that they cannot understand, as they say, the ignorance of the Government on the method of calculation and payment of wages to their own workers.
“With the new value of the minimum wage, the Government, for the first time in the history of Macedonia, will make a whole group of employees in the administration who were a little above the minimum wage to now receive only the minimum wage. With that, the government belittles and humiliates its employees, and secondly increases the percentage of employees who receive the minimum wage at the state level from 13.8 percent to almost 18 percent,” Deanoski said.
