Reports: Social Dialogue BCM throughout the years
In 2019, we solidified our global position as the largest national employers’ organization. This further strengthens our commitment and responsibility to support employers, entrepreneurs and business organizations in realizing their true potential. In fact, we see it as our core business. It has helped us achieve our leading position, and it will help us in our journey towards our ultimate goal of touching the business lives of employers nationally and globally. So why is growth so important to us? Most importantly, we want to grow because we want to give more employers the chance to grow with us, providing them with ever better business environment and opportunities.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that occurred in North Macedonia in 2020, BCM’s internal operations and North Macedonia’s health care system overall changed significantly. The pandemic was a catalyst for beneficial changes. Early in 2020, BCM was experiencing the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though the situation looked as if it would life likely return to normal, after few months of health and safety protocols, this was not to be the case. The second wave arrived in middle of the year, followed by a third wave, with each wave of infections bringing more cases and hospitalizations than the previous one. The third wave, shrunk the case counts and resulted with successful protection and safety awareness campaigns, so the North Macedonia’s government announced its restart plan in late May. But, even though it seemed that the pandemic will be over soon, that wasn’t the case.
Most of BCM external work in 2021 focused on supporting of members and stakeholders with the provincial pandemic response. BCM worked with members to address, mitigate and establish consistent COVID-19 related labour relations practices, especially with regards to Employment Standards Act changes, pandemic pay, redeployment of health care professionals in support of the provincial pandemic response, scheduling and overtime issues, international travel, and child care issues resulting from a disrupted school year. North Macedonia’s pandemic response has required government, employers, unions, and, health care professionals to work together more than ever, and BCM has played a significant role in bringing the various parties together, convening regular meetings with health sector unions. This work was unprecedented, complex, intensive and very successful.
Social dialogue in BCM’s analyses
Workers Involvement in Management
Business Confederation of Macedonia in cooperation with its project partners from Slovenia (CPM, ZDS), Montenegro (UPCG), Croatia (HUP) and with the support of Germany (BDA) implemented the WIM 2 project, which aims to raise awareness the potential benefits of implementing employee participation in the decision-making process, identifying challenges and mental barriers that could hinder the implementation of participation models, seeking specific solutions or possible ways to transfer that part of the legal order that refers to employee participation in decision-making processes.
The project partners prepared this analysis-publication in order to show the legal and factual framework of participation in the involvement of employees in the decision-making process, and to critically prepare and present two models of participation in two Member States and to form recommendations. for the efficient transfer of the relevant parts of the European legal order into the national legislation of the future members, having in mind the conclusions of the research conducted in the project partner countries.
Social Dialogue in Tourism and Hospitality
Through this project, the measures that were adopted were promoted internationally, in order to cause an effect that would accelerate the economic,
social and communication flows with the region. The project also strengthened and renewed co-operation between Southeast European countries.
Slovenia, since its accession to the EU, has greatly improved its system of social dialogue and has achieved a number of successful results in social dialogue, both at national and sectoral level. Because ZDS works closely with employers and trade unions in Southeast Europe and has established good relations between them in the field of economy and in every other area, we wanted to help achieve sustainable economic and social development in the region. As the tourism and hospitality sector is a strategic sector in the participating countries, and based on a strong bipartisan social dialogue, ZDS in cooperation with EFFAT and BUSINESSEUROPE provided expertise and good practices to the project partners and shared experiences in creating an effective social dialogue system. with our partner countries from Southeast Europe that are key to this branch.
Candidate countries, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, have only a modestly developed social dialogue, unlike Croatia, which has examples of good practices on how to improve collective bargaining in the tourism and hospitality sectors. Also, project partners (especially in the candidate countries) do not have the knowledge on how to respond to the economic crisis and how to adapt the social dialogue to the challenges (labor market modernization, flexibility and security, working hours, skills , quality of work, and decent work).