Ministry of Culture employees hold third day of protest over pay
Skopje, 28 March 2023 (MIA) — Employees of the Ministry of Culture, the Cultural Heritage Protection Office and the Film Agency will gather for the third time to protest their low salaries in front of the Ministry of Finance, after it denied them raises but raised the salaries of its own staff by 30 percent, the unionized workers said.
On Monday, they rallied in front of the Ministry of Finance the second time, demanding to meet with Minister of Finance Famir Besimi and sign a collective agreement for wage increases.
According to Ministry of Culture union leader Branko Kostovski on Friday, when the protest started, a significant percentage of people employed by these three state institutions earned below the average salary. He also claimed that employees doing equal work in other cultural institutions in the country were paid 10,000 denars more.
"On a paycheck of 25,000 denars, which is what some 70 percent of the Ministry of Culture employees earn, you can't survive month to month," he added.
He said the union had submitted a draft collective agreement providing raises for the union members last year but the Ministry of Finance had dismissed the proposal. A few days later, 30-percent raises had been approved for Ministry of Finance's own employees, he pointed out.
Kostovski said they would hold protests in front of the Ministry of Finance every day until their demands were met. mr/
