Various claims, insinuations and accusations related to my work as Minister of Culture and Tourism have emerged in the past period. When public dialogue calls into question the integrity of the institution and the personal integrity of the holder of the position, it is a duty to respond with clear and transparent arguments, Macedonian Minister of Culture Zoran Ljutkov told a press conference on Wednesday.
“In the past few days, the Culture Union has made claims against me that are incorrect and unverified. I want to stress unequivocally that as a minister, I always stand on the side of cultural partakers and advocate for the protection of their rights. I have never acted arbitrarily, nor have I denied legally guaranteed labor rights. All decisions I make are in line with the legal framework and the principle of equal treatment for all employees in the cultural sector. The allegations of abuse of office are completely unfounded. At no time have I obstructed the exercise of any labor right guaranteed by the Constitution and law. On the contrary, it is my obligation to ensure a system where the rules apply equally to everyone, without privileges and without exceptions,” Minister Ljutkov stressed.
He explains that the country applies a General Collective Agreement for the public sector, and employees in the culture sector also have a collective agreement that regulates the calculation of wages. The general collective agreement provides for a 10% increase in public sector wages as of September 2023. In this regard, for the sake of aligment, the Ministry of Culture offered to conclude an annex to the collective agreement, which the Union turned down.
“Now the Trade Union is suing for the calculation of wages in a manner that leads employees in the cultural sector to have a higher minimum wage for calculating their wage than the published minimum wage in line with the law in the country. To make it clearer, in 2025 the minimum wage in the public sector of the Republic of Macedonia for calculating the basic gross w was MKD 36,037, and the request of the Culture Trade Union was that the calculation of the basic gross salary be made at the amount of MKD 39,641, which is contrary to the minimum wage published in line with the law. The minimum wage for all employees in the country is the same, it is regulated by law and is publicly announced every year. If with the increase in the minimum wage in 2025 all employees in the public sector received a net increase of MKD 1,800, employees from institutions in the field of culture received a net increase of MKD 1,738 for the lowest job position up to MKD 4,391 for the highest job position. What kind of wage cut are we talking about,” Minister Ljutkov pointed out.
