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INTERVIEW
Breakfast”. What form of project is this? within the project “Business Breakfast”? Unfortunately, the
What are your expectations for the final re- entry of foreign
А. Dimitrov: Through such a form of sult of these discussions?
meetings with our existing and potential investors in the free
members, in a relaxed atmosphere, we А. Dimitrov: We already determined an- economic zones
would like to discuss on the business cli- other two topics. One refers to the prob-
mate in this country and to determine the lems of the functioning of the Law on Occu- did not change the
problems of employers in the current op- pational Safety and Health, which although structure of the
erations. From the past experience we have formally functions and causes greater fi-
concluded that the proposals which we de- nancial repercussions for the employers, economy, therefore
liver to the Government, through the Eco- the fact is that it did not provide the ex- it did not manage
nomic-Social Council or directly, primarily pected results. We have to offer solutions
have to be the result of a good and compre- wherewith the safety and health of the em- to importantly raise
hensive dispute between us, the employers, ployees will be an issue which is transferred the average salary in
in order to see the experiences of the oth- from the offices to the factory halls and the
ers, and ultimately, to look for support from workplaces. The second topic is the Compa- Macedonia
our social partners. Only in this manner the ny Law, and all its past amendments were
Government will pay enough attention to a tendency to protect the small or minor- 35
our proposals. ity shareholders. On the other hand, if some
of the dominant shareholders would like to
In the first such meeting in Prilep you invest additional capital for the purpose of
discussed about the possible solutions in re- development of the company, this person
gard to the status of the seasonal workers. must get a consent from at least 2/3 of the
Why was this particular topic selected, and companies. In this manner, the right of the
what proposals did you formulate? dominant shareholder to invest additional
funds and to develop the company is lim-
А. Dimitrov: The employers from agri- ited. In the next business breakfasts we will
culture, from the catering industry, and elaborate these issues and we will present
from structural engineering, for a long time ready proposals to modify the laws. I hope
complain about the problems with seasonal that all three proposals would be approved
workers. The existing Labor Law almost and shall become a part of a procedure for
completely equalizes these employees with law amendments.
the other employees. The decision of the
Labour Law, that a seasonal worker must You are also the President of the Board
be registered in the compulsory social in- of Directors of the Textile Factory “Moda”
surance system at least one day before his from Sveti Nikole. You have all first-hand
employment starts, is a great obstacle for information. What is your estimation of the
the employers. Usually they do not know socio-economic situation in Macedonia?
how many employees and what employees
will be engaged on the specific date. The А. Dimitrov: Well, the very political crisis
system of daily vouchers already success- caused additional complications of the so-
fully functions in Croatia. These vouchers cio-economic condition in Macedonia. Un-
are coupons for payment of salary contri- fortunately, the entry of foreign investors in
butions. The employer buys the vouchers the free economic zones did not change the
in advance from an authorized financial in- structure of the economy, therefore it did
stitution and seals them to the daily labor not manage to importantly raise the aver-
agreements. In this manner the employer age salary in Macedonia. With rare excep-
provides paid contributions and personal tions, most of these factories use cheap and
protection against possible controls and insufficiently educated workforce, and the
payment of high fines. processes are reduced to certain finishing
of input raw materials from abroad. In this
Can you announce the other topics manner not only that they did not adopt
which will be the focus of the next meetings new modern technology, but also due to the
September 2016
