SSNM: Collective agreements are the basis for improving media rights in the media

Labor Day, May 1st, marks the Independent Union of Journalists and Media Workers with warning/indication that journalists and media workers in Macedonia are working in a nerkariat where only one third of media employees (about 700 out of 2,100) are covered by a collective agreement.

Positive and improved rights under collective agreements are only used by public sector employees, ie the so -called « state » media, while journalists and media workers in the private sector still face a series of violations of labor rights and their lesser protection.

-We point out that in low wages, where nearly 70 percent of media workers and 50 percent of journalists receive salaries below the average difficult, the principle of professional and objective reporting is feasible because only socio-economically secured journalists can be guardians of the public interest. Working in conditions of nerkaria, uncertain jobs, short -term contracts or only freelance agreements, disregard for vacation provisions, for working hours, overtime or festive diaries are still painful points for journalists and media who are by definition of public interest.

This 1 May we remind that the struggle to improve working conditions, increase low wages, timely pay and public and private sectors is the basis and goes hand in hand with the struggle for freedom of expression and free information on citizens. The struggle is constant and depends on the association and unity of insisting on improving both socio-economic conditions and the conditions for professional and objective reporting.