The Organization of Employers of Macedonia (OEM) is proposing a new model for registering
seasonal workers. They believe paying contributions would be done best through daily vouchers. In
the country there are about 20,000 seasonal workers. Karolina Durlo reports. A proposal for a new
model of registering seasonal workers, whose numbers in the country currently stand at over 20,000,
was presented today by members of the Organization of Employers of Macedonia (OEM) at the first
working meeting under a new project called Business Breakfast. The new model should include daily
vouchers for payment of seasonal workers’ contributions. Angel
Dimitrov, President of the OEM: We
took into account Croatia’s experience, but we’ve also talked to other Western European countries
where there is such a system in place, which is the system of payment of contributions via coupons
or vouchers. Since it is happening in agriculture as well as in other branches such as, say, hospitality,
the employer may not know and might not sign a contract in advance to register the employee in the
system of mandatory social insurance from one day to the next because that worker might not return
the next day. According to statistics, most seasonal workers are in agriculture, hospitality and
tourism, the food and the textile industry. Tome
Petkovski, President of the food sector in the OEM:
The state would eliminate a significant portion of the grey economy that is not registered,
companies unfair
competition, and trade unions would get some of the protection of this invisible
portion of employees who normally complete things physically, but cannot get any benefits or get any
legal protection. The Organization of Employers of Macedonia, which is representative, is comprised
of more than 1,000 companies from 15 sectors with over 70,000 employees.