Skopje, 28 January 2026 (MIA) - SDSM has decided to support today's protest of the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) and the workers' demands to the Government, but there will no organized party initiative, said leader Venko Filipche on Wednesday.

"I believe that the demands are real and objective, workers and their families deserve higher wages and need them in order to survive. I regret to see that the practice of the former SDSM-led governments of continued rise of the minimum and average wage rise is now gone. At the time of the world's biggest crises - covid, energy - the minimum wage was doubled while the average one nearly doubled," said Filipche.

He added this resulted from proper policies, with the country having good realization of capital investments and foreign investments.

"This is not the case with the incumbent government of VMRO-DPMNE, ZNAM and Vlen. The Government is taking more and more loans that will be repaid by future generations. We give our maximum support for today's protest. It is unfortunate that the authorities did not accept our motion for increase of the minimum wage a few months ago. We will continue to put forward solutions in the coming period, aimed at improving the people's standard of life," said Filipche.

Asked if he would attend the protest, the SDSM leader said there would be no organized party initiative.

"Of course, our members who are part of the unions will go out, but we will not provide organized party support, nor do we believe we should give it. This should be an authentic protest of the organization in which we do not play any part," said Filipche.

Photo: MIA