Monika Zajkova lasted seven days living on the minimum wage in SSM documentary

The documentary "Do prvi" produced by the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia (SSM) follows the daily life and hardships of people trying to live on the country's minimum wage.

Member of Parliament Monika Zajkova volunteered to try to survive a month on an income equal to the minimum wage. In the film she manages to live on that sum for only seven days, a result SSM says illustrates the gap between official pay levels and workers' real living costs.

Staging the experiment and a message to politicians

Slobodan Trendafilov, president of SSM, commented that Zajkova's willingness to attempt the challenge and her inability to last beyond a week are evidence that those in power are out of touch with the struggles of workers who barely make ends meet.

Kristina Gjorgjievska, chief editor at the outlet that filmed the project, Vidi Vaka, described the production as a serious attempt to portray a worker's daily reality through the experience of an MP, aimed at prompting policymakers to see how minimum-wage households live.

At the documentary premiere organizers placed 120 chairs — matching the number of MPs in the legislature — but report that not a single parliamentarian attended to confront the reality presented on screen: the living conditions of the citizens who granted them legitimacy and whose wages contrast with MPs' high salaries and privileges.

Photo: press material from the event