We are not asking for alms. We are asking for equality. We are asking that our state not use us as a tool for statistics, as puppets, but to give us what rightfully belongs to us: recognition, security, dignity. If Europe really has an ear for social justice and democratic standards, let it look beyond reports. Let it hear our voices. Because Europe is not built with facades, but with free, equal and protected people.
By Delvina KRLUKU
In North Macedonia, a large part of citizens continue to work insecurely, without an employment contract, without health and pension insurance, and often without even the minimum rights that guarantee a dignified life. Employees in the private sector, services, agriculture or construction face a harsh reality: they work from morning to night, but officially do not exist.
This form of “undeclared work” has become the norm in many Regions of the country. Young and old, women and men – many of them have no choice but to accept unacceptable conditions, just to survive. When there is no contract, there is no security. No institution protects them. In case of an accident at work? No one is responsible. In case of illness? No one covers it. At the end of life? There is no pension either.
WHERE IS THE STATE IN THIS PAINFUL REALITY?
Where are the labor inspectorates, the institutions that should control and punish abuses? Why are employers allowed to violate the laws with such ease, while the ordinary citizen is held hostage to a system that denies them the most basic rights? This is not just a legal issue – it is a moral and social issue. A state that does not protect the worker is a state that destroys the foundations of equality and human dignity.
And a society that remains silent in the face of this injustice is a society that accepts modern slavery as part of everyday life. Change does not come by itself. It takes citizen pressure, active media and above all a government that does not close its eyes. It takes real reforms in the labor market and severe penalties for those who exploit the needs of others. Because a state is not built on abuse, but on social justice.
WORK WITHOUT RIGHTS, LIFE WITHOUT SECURITY – WHO PROTECTS THE WORKER IN MACEDONIA?
We are witnesses to this injustice that happens every day, for years, in silence. Someone has worked as a lecturer, as a journalist, as a translator, as an assistant – doctor, advisor, others – always with a contract, but without insurance. Without the right to a day of paid leave, without health support, without work experience recognized by the system. Meanwhile, we have given more than that. We have won state awards in journalism, science, art, for culture, the written word, for work that does not belong to just one field – but to our identity as a society. Today, when we compete for a job, with a college degree, a master’s degree, a doctorate, with decades of dedication, we are told that we have less “work experience” than a maid, just because she was insured. The irony is painful.
IS THIS JUSTICE? IS THIS MERITOCRACY?
What should we do when the state has not had control over its own institutions? What should we do when we have no political connections, but only knowledge, dedication and professional honor? What should we do when we have not served parties, but the public? Today, the state that was supposed to protect us has betrayed us. It has thrown us aside, exploited us and then forgotten us. And in this rotten system, everything is measured by party, not by documents and contributions. By paid insurance, not by knowledge provided. By servility, not by dignity.
EUROPE, DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHO MACEDONIA IS?
Not the one in political reports and diplomatic speeches. Not the one that only fills out forms and builds false facades for integration. But the real Macedonia – the one of unrepresented citizens, of workers without rights, of undervalued intellectuals and of victims of a system that does not have work and people at its center. We do not ask for alms. We ask for equality. We ask that our state not use us as a tool for statistics, as puppets, but to give us what rightfully belongs to us: recognition, security, dignity.
If Europe truly cares about social justice and democratic standards, let it look beyond the reports. Let it listen to our voices. Because Europe is not built with facades, but with free, equal, and protected people.
