Businesses should be allowed to independently decide if they should give their workers Sundays off instead of being legally required do so, according to members of the Economic Chamber of North Macedonia at a news conference Monday.

At the event, businesspeople warned that if a better legal solution was not found regarding Sunday as a non-working day — and if many companies, such as construction companies and retailers, were not allowed to work on Sundays – it would cause rising production costs and energy consumption, financial losses, higher number of accidents at work, facility closures, and layoffs.

Instead, business people said, the authorities should be flexible and companies should consistently comply with laws on workers’ rights, including giving them extra pay on Sundays. According to food industry representative Orde Gjorgjioski from Vitaminka, the legal solution needed to support four-shift work schedules. He said the private sector was “largely surprised” by the law declaring Sunday a day off for most workers.

“We don’t understand how some businesses were privileged [to stay open on Sundays], and some excluded. What were the criteria?” he asked. “The best solution,” Gjorgioski said, “is probably to name Sunday a day of rest without listing sectors [as essential] but allow any company to submit to the Labor Inspectorate a statement of their intention to continue working while paying workers extra pay.”

Nena Nikolovska, representing the construction sector, said if workers didn’t work on Sundays, there would be increased risk of accidents in addition to financial losses. According to her, companies should be allowed to work on Sundays both to optimize their work processes and to give workers a chance to earn more money. Vasko Ristovski from the Economic Chamber said the Labor Relations Law should regulate all work relations, including Sunday as a day off.

“Our trade sector members proposed this after realizing they were placed in an unequal legal position on the basis of no prior criteria, such as ban on doing business, additional tax, higher extra pay,” Ristovski said.

Businesspeople also asked the authorities to reconsider their calculations defining extra pay so as not to confuse people. “If they reach an appropriate decision on Sunday as a non-working day, the Economic Chamber on Feb. 18, marking it’s 100th anniversary, will withdraw its Initiative submitted to the Constitutional Court to evaluate the constitutionality of the amendments to the Labor Relations Law,” Economic Chamber representative Daniela Mihajlovska said.

Source:MIA