Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151) - North Macedonia (Ratification: 2013)

Article 1 of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee noted the Government’s indication that, pursuant to article 37 of the Constitution, the conditions for exercising the right to union organization in administrative bodies can be limited by law. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government and refers to its comments on this issue under the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87).

Regulations applicable to public employees. Participation of public employees in the determination of their terms and conditions of employment. The Committee noted that the right to organize of persons employed by public bodies, as well as their protections against anti-union discrimination and interference, the facilities provided to their representatives and the procedures to engage in collective bargaining, are all subject to the same rules and regulations as those set out for workers in the private sector, in particular under the Law on Labour Relations. The Committee requested the Government to provide further information on any impact in the exercise of these rights that may derive from other regulations applicable to persons employed by public bodies, such as the Law on the Employees of the Public Sector. The Committee notes with interest the Government’s indication that: (i) on 19 July 2023, and 15 years after the signing of the last General Collective Agreement for the public sector, the Government and the representative trade union at the national level i.e. the Federation of Trade Unions of Macedonia, signed the new General Collective Agreement for Employees in the Public Sector; (ii) this Collective Agreement has direct application and is mandatory for employers and public sector workers; (iii) the signing of the agreement followed several months of intense negotiations that also included the non-representative unions in the territory of the Republic; and (iv) with it, a salary increase of 10 per cent in 2023 was arranged, as well as a methodology that will begin to be applied in March 2025, which will ensure, by harmonizing with the growth of the average salary in the country, the continuous growth of the salaries of the employees in the public sector. The Committee requests the Government to continue providing further information: (i) on any impact in the exercise of the rights guaranteed by the Convention that may derive from other regulations applicable to persons employed by public bodies, such as the Law on the Employees of the Public Sector; and (ii) on the exercise of the right to collective bargaining by public employees.