Dear workers, friends, donors and collaborators,
The Association for the Protection of Workers' Rights "Glasen Tekstilec" from Shtip is a non-profit organization formed in May 2017 by human and labor rights activists, former and current workers from the textile industry. The idea to form "Glasen Tekstilec" arose from previous experience as activists and employees in the textile industry, because we saw the need to start solving and actualizing the problem of low wages, poor and unsafe working conditions, mobbing and discrimination in the workplace in the clothing and footwear production sector. While working on this problem, we encountered closed doors from institutions, lack of information among workers about their labor and human rights, lack of information about protection in case of violations of labor rights, protection from mobbing, discrimination and workplace injury. We encountered inert unions, that is, a single union that has representation in this branch, and according to statements by workers, it is totally dysfunctional.
The association was formed with the aim of raising awareness among authorities, institutions, unions, and even workers themselves about the violation of labor rights, low wages, and violations of the Labor Relations Law, Social Protection Law, Minimum Wage Law, and various situations that are unacceptable in a country that claims to be a member of the EU.
In the past 2020, "Glasen Tekstilec" implemented 4 projects (Institutional and economic empowerment of women and girls from the eastern region, Responding to the socio-economic effects of COVID-19 by supporting vulnerable groups of low-wage workers, workers in the informal economy and temporary workers,Organized citizens for an organized future, Advancing the rights of textile workers from the eastern region), and some of them were dedicated to reducing the damage caused by the global pandemic with the Covid-19 virus.
During the assembly session, the members of the assembly of "Glasen Tekstilec" re-elected Kristina Ampeva as president with a mandate of 4 years, as well as a new Supervisory Board, with a mandate of 4 years.
