PRESS RELEASE
THE STATE DOES NOT KEEP RECORDS ON THE NUMBER OF INJURES AND ACCIDENTS AT THE WORKPLACE
The Gender Equality Platform expresses deep concern over the deaths of three workers who died in their workplace in the past month. Our concern is related to the working conditions in the factories in the Republic of Macedonia, as well as the lack of information for an appropriate reaction by the competent authorities. Women’s participation in the labor market is extremely low compared to all countries in the region and Europe, and these cases additionally create an impression of carelessness and exposure to workplace hazards that in the last month has disproportionately affected women workers.
The death of three women workers, only in the last month, is an alarming condition and may indicate systemic shortcomings and disregard for workers’ rights. The competent authorities should undertake comprehensive measures to identify the causes, to locate the responsibility in these cases, and also to propose measures that are necessary to prevent such situations in the future.
During the last inspection at the factory “Yagye Mezler“ in which one worker died, it was found that the conditions for occupational health and safety were not met, indicating the need for proactive action of the inspection services for preventive protection of the workers.
The competent authorities are responsible for establishing mechanisms to determine the actual conditions at the workplace and to collect data that will be publicly available. It is imperative that the competent authorities strengthen the inspection services and the supervision of the production capacities in order to determine and eliminate all irregularities related to the safety and health of the employees and the abuse of workers’ rights. The findings of such inspections should be made available to the public. The Platform has sent its own letter of concern to the competent authorities with specific recommendations, attached to this announcement.
In addition to the recommendations submitted to the institutions, we would like to remind the public, and especially the workers who face violations of their workers’ rights, that our member organization Reactor – Research in Action recently launched the web platform http://prijavidiskriminacija.mk.
The Web platform enables anonymous reporting of discrimination and violation of workers’ rights, which include working conditions. It is a reaction to the lack of data on violations of workers’ rights, and especially gender-disaggregated statistics, which we believe limits the authorities in creating measures and policies to address labor market problems. By collecting and analyzing the data submitted to the relevant institutions, the platform aims to encourage the resolution of problems concerning violation of workers’ rights on the labor market in the Republic of Macedonia.
Sincerely,
Gender Equality Platform
Gender Equality Platform (in alphabetical order):
- Health Education and Research Association – HERA
- Bori se zenski
- Womens’ Civic Initiative ANTICO
- Association Womens’ Forum
- Association for Equal Opportunities Semper
- Association for Emancipation, Solidarity and Equality of Women
- Association for Local Rural Development
- Akcija Zdruzhenska
- Organization of Women of Sveti Nikole
- Institute of Social Sciences and Humanities
- LesFem
- National Network to End Violence against Women and Domestic Violence – Voice against Violence
- National Council for Gender Equality – SOZM
- Organization of Women of the City of Skopje
- Organization of Women Kumanovka
- Reactor – Research in Action
- Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
- Humanitarian Association Majka, Kumanovo
About the Platform:
Gender Equality Platform is a platform of civil society organizations and individuals working together in the direction of promoting gender equality in the Republic of Macedonia. The Platform provides pooling of the expertise and the experience of civil society on gender equality, and through the continuous monitoring and identification of the opportunities for influence on the local and national policies, aims to ensure the implementation of international and domestic legislation. Additional information about the Platform, as well as its aims and activities are available on the web-page of the Platform: http://rodovaplatforma.mk/
