Levica: National Forests workers offered firewood instead of K-15
Levica says employees are presented with a pre‑prepared declaration to accept 13,670 denars as firewood and are pressured to sign under material and criminal liability.
Levica announced that employees of the Public Enterprise National Forests are being offered firewood instead of the annual leave allowance commonly known as K-15.
According to the party, testimonies and documents show that the allowance of 13,670 denars is being proposed to be settled in firewood. Workers are reportedly handed a pre-prepared statement that they must sign to accept this form of payment, and the document is presented for signature under material and criminal liability.
"Levica has received testimonies and documents that expose this VMRO-led government's attitude toward labour. With a pre-prepared statement, employees are required to agree that the annual leave allowance of 13,670 denars is to be compensated with firewood. And not only that! Workers are asked to give that statement under material and criminal liability," the party said.
Party singles out company management
Levica named the enterprise's director, Zdravko Trajanov, and his deputy, Kire Mihailov, and demanded an explanation for the legal basis on which the allowance is being proposed to be paid in kind.
"Let Trajanov and Mihailov explain by what right they convert the workers' allowance into goods for barter and who gave them the blessing to behave like managers of a feudal estate! Do they also receive their pay in split logs, or does the medieval economy apply only to those who work under them? The state enterprise is a hereditary estate of DPMNE! If their greatest managerial achievement is to replace cash with a log, then their place is not in the directors' offices," the party added.
Levica also pointed to Article 8 of the Law on Payment of Wages, which the party says prohibits payment of salaries and allowances in vouchers or in kind, and to the Labour Relations Law, under which the holiday allowance is a monetary right of employees.
The party demanded urgent accountability and called on the State Labour Inspectorate to carry out an extraordinary inspection of the Public Enterprise National Forests.
Photo: Levica
