The International and European Federations of Journalists (IFJ-EFJ) have issued a call for solidarity for journalists planning a strike over unpaid wages at two daily newspapers in Macedonia. The journalists working for Utrinski and Dnevnik published by Media Print Macedonia (MPM) are to strike with the support of SSNM (Trade Union of Macedonian Journalists and Media Workers, an IFJ-EFJ affiliate) after the company failed to pay their wages for 2 months. Although the level of their salaries is very low, they have not been paid at all since December 2016. “This is totally unacceptable. How can the colleagues do their job properly if they are not being paid ? The readership and others in the journalistic community should support this struggle because workers’ rights are being violated and the public’s right to have access to information is being affected. All work deserves to be paid: it is not acceptable that those who have carried out their work are still waiting to be paid two months later...this is a breach of international rights enjoyed in all the world, including Macedonia. We stand in solidarity with our colleagues.”, said IFJ-EFJ. In protest against their working conditions, last week media workers at Utrinski and Dnevnik newspapers started collective 30 minutes "protest" breaks in front of the management offices. On February 17th, they will officially strike if no agreement has been reached with the management of the newspapers. In an important sign of professional solidarity, journalists and media workers from Vest decided to join their colleagues of Utrinski and Dnevnik in their decision to strike. So far there has not been any sign of the employers seeking to make contact with the SSNM.

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