Trade Unions stage protest march to mark International Workers’ Day

Trade Unions in Macedonia join Tuesday the celebration of International Workers’ Day – May 1 which is marked in honor and the memory to the struggle of workers for the promotion of their rights.

The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia organizes traditional celebration of May 1 by staging a protest march on the streets of Macedonia’s capital.

The march held under the motto “Different Ways, One Goal” will kick off in front of the building of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia and will continue in front of Macedonian Parliament and Government’s buildings, demanding better Labour Law, providing a vacation recourse for all employees in the state, Better general collective agreement for the private and public sector, stop for mobbing at workplaces and more conditions for retirement and stop to the increase of the pension age limit.

The Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia this year marks a significant jubilee – 110 years of trade union movement and trade union organizing in the country. A jubilee that is very significant in the struggle for labor rights and improving the labor movement in the country.

The Confederation of Trade Unions of Macedonia will also hold May 1 protest march demanding change of Labour Law and their representatives will be included in the negotiations.

The Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Macedonia issues a Labour Day proclamation stating that the economic and social situation in the country is bad and that social partnership and dialogue is not functioning, collective agreements and law are violated, especially the Labour Law and Law on Pension and Disability Insurance.

International Workers’ Day is the commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Massacre in Chicago, which occurred after an unknown person, threw a dynamite bomb at police as they dispersed a public assembly during a general strike for the eight-hour workday. In response, the Chicago police fired on the workers killing dozens of demonstrators and several of their own officers. In 1889, the first congress of the Second International, meeting in Paris for the centennial of the French Revolution and the Exposition Universelle, following a proposal by Raymond Lavigne, called for international demonstrations on the 1890 anniversary of the Chicago protests. May Day was formally recognized as an annual event at the International’s second congress in 1891.