The struggle with gender equality is particularly pronounced in Shtip, an hour's drive from the capital Skopje, which was a stronghold of the garment industry in Yugoslav times and remains so today. "If you don't have political connections, the garment industry is the only job open for you in Shtip, " says Ampeva. Minimum wage battleAmpeva says her NGO has filed more than 1, 000 complaints in five years, and helped thousands of workers. She is also proud of the NGO's role in overhauling the minimum wage law, which had made textile workers' wages conditional on reaching a production quota. Angel Dimitrov, a garment industry manager who heads the country's organisation of employers, insists the bad old days are gone.

Source: The Star July 13, 2021 05:26 UTC