Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM): Industrial relations profile

From the beginning of the political and economic transition, the legal context has been rather favourable to industrial relations. In the constitution of 1991, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia was proclaimed as a social state with high level of provision of social and economic rights, including the right of labour to be organised for the promotion of its interests. Strikes and collective bargaining became constitutional categories and the constitution created very flexible provision for the participation of the labour in management of firms. The constitution states that ‘ownership and labour form the basis for management and sharing in decision-making’. These basic values promoted in the constitution were operationalised in many laws, the pillar of which is the Labour Code. In the process of harmonisation of this regulation with EU standards many laws were revisited, and many new ones created. Some analysts highlight two tendencies in this process of revision. One of these tendencies is the significant enlargement of the Labour Code with many new provisions concerning discrimination, collective bargaining, trade unions and strikes.