80% of the workers employed in the textile industry in Macedonia are female (source: Union of trade unions of Macedonia). Most of the private textile factories are situated in the eastern part of Macedonia.

The owners of the factories in this part of Macedonia use a special "training scheme" subsidised by the government for a three-months period. If they want to expand their business, they submit a project to the Employment Bureau on job training for a number of workers. During this period the workers attending the program are paid by the Bureau (4000,00 MKD = $62,00 per month) and the employer also gets 2000,00 MKD = $31,00 per month for each of these workers and at the end of the 3 month job training program the employer is obliged to employ 90% of the participants or he/she has to return the subsidies received from the Bureau. The employer does not have to return the money if the women voluntarily decide not to sign the labour contract.

The "training programm" is administered by the Employment Bureau but financed by the World Bank and it has a dual purpose:

• Decrease the high unemployment rate by providing an opportunity for job training and retraining to laid off workers because of insolvency of the enterprises.
• Foster the growth of private small and medium enterprises by covering the expenses for the training of the workers, so that they would be able to continue working in the firm after the training period is over.

The reality is that upon starting the 'training program', they are given blank documents to sign and use these documents as prove for the women's resignation from the job after the 'programm' expires. This is a severe infringement of the women's workers rights. The employers abuse women's low awareness of their rights and difficult financial situation. The women believe that they simply have no choice but to sign whatever they are given just to be able to work even a limited period of time. At the end of the 3-month period the employer uses this document as a justification that the women voluntarily quit their job. While in the reality the employer gets free labor plus funds from the Employment Bureau and exploits the women's labor in a way that these women work under terrible working conditions. Although they have successfully finished the job training, the workers are left without a job. To make matters worse, at the moment these women have nowhere to appeal or file a complaint. Because of the highly corrupted and weak state institutions the existing mechanisms for protection of their rights do not function, especially when it comes to the legal system.

In Delcevo and Makedonska Kamenica alone, 21 private firms employ nearly 500 women on the basis of this programm. All of these factories have lohn-production contracts with very strict conditions and a very short delivery times. The women in these factories work overtime or 2 shifts a day without breaks and are not compensated for the overtime in terms of money or days off, they don't have any medical or social insurance, they have no right to a weekly, monthly or yearly time off/vacation. The women work for a minimal salary in conditions that are bellow any standard.

On the other hand, due to the process of transition, the structural economic reforms and the privatization, huge number of workers was laid off. The insolvency of the firms led to a high unemployment rate in Delcevo. So, in spite of the terrible working conditions and the exploitation in these textile factories, women in Delcevo are forced to take up jobs and apply for job training in the textile industry. On top of that these women do not have the protection of the trade union which still has a rigid and ineffective structure due to the slow process of its reorganization. The way the trade union is currently operating does not allow its presence in privately owned enterprises. This is a consequence of the previous socialist economy when all the enterprises were state owned.

In order to find a solution to the exploitation of the women workers included in the programm, an advocacy group was founded. It has the following objectives:

• Reactivating the existing mechanisms for control
• Educating the women about their working rights
• Raising awareness in general about workers rights

The advocacy group in Delcevo is composed of 5 members who represent the following sectors: NGO, political party, business sector, media and local government. These are all women leaders in their community and committed to social change. Each of them brings a different perspective to the issue and contributes to achieving the objective by using different resources, but most importantly they, as team, use the tools of advocacy in order to make significant changes in putting a stop to the exploitation of women workers.

During the period of 11 months the advocacy group organized 11 workshops for 300 women employed in the private textile factories in Delcevo and Makedonska Kamenica. In these workshops they were presented with their rights and obligations as employees and their rights as participants of the "job training and retraining programm". This way they were able to raise their awareness on the use of mechanisms for labor protection. The educational workshops were organized in the factories where the workers were also alerted about the possible abuse of this programm and were asked not to sign any blank documents.

In order to involve all responsible institutions in the process of acknowledging the problem and proposing a solution to overcome it, the advocacy team formed a Coordinating body comprised of representatives of the local government, the Employment Bureau - local branch in Delcevo, labor inspection, trade union, public prosecutor, representative of the health and social security fund, pension fund, local court and employers. The coordinating body held three meetings where its members identified how to work together, coordinated efforts, and shared information. They also detected the exact reasons that prevent normal functioning of the chain of mechanisms for workers protection and concluded that the biggest problems occur after the matter starts courts' proceedings.

We would like to emphasize the fact that during the whole period of our work the Employment Bureau in Delcevo gave huge support for the realization of our objectives.

Apart from the activities on a local level the advocacy group lobbied at the national level for preventing and stopping the exploitation of female textile workers. The group established contacts with the Employment Bureau headquarters in Skopje and by sending two letters gave the overview of the situation in Delcevo, presenting the problem and giving recommendations about future steps that need to be undertaken.

On September 27, 2002 the advocacy team organized a public tribunal where this serious problem was presented to the broader community together with the work of the group, their findings, and results. The aim of this event was to build public pressure on the institutions in charge of this issue, to educate the community, and to raise awareness among employers and employees. Among the participants were the members of the coordinative body, women workers, and employers.

All the activities were regularly announced on the local TV station, with the purpose of engaging the broader community. On June 12, 2002 the advocacy group organized a debate that was broadcasted on the local TV station. The aim of this TV debate was to present the problem to the community and the activities that are undertaken by the advocacy group, the employer's perspective, as well as the procedures and the work of the existing mechanisms for the protection of worker's rights. In addition to that posters and leaflets under the slogan: "Women have rights at work" were printed to contribute to the campaign for awareness raising around this issue. The posters and leaflets were disseminated at the workshops, through the Employment Bureau and at the public event.

As a result of the hard work of this advocacy group more restrictive conditions for the employers were introduced and they are applicable on a national level. In case the employer does not employ 90% of the participants of the "job training and retraining programm", he/she has to not only return the money received from the Employment Bureau, but also pay an interest rate to that amount. (Book of regulations for job training and retraining)

At the local level:

• The Labor inspection as well as the Health and sanitary inspection doubled their surveillance in the private textile factories
• The Employment Bureau in Delcevo now applies more strict rules for keeping track of records for the employers that have submitted applications for the programm.
• 300 textile workers in Delcevo and Makedonska Kamenica who attended the educational workshops became aware of their rights as employees and about the legal paths they can take in order to achieve them.
• Coordinative body with members of all relevant institutions responsible for the control of the abuse of workers rights was formed. This structure will continue to meet and exchange information regarding the problem of dysfunctioning of the mechanisms for protection of the rights of female textile workers.
• Written materials were printed (posters and leaflets) that can be used for further campaigning in order to raise the awareness of women workers in other communities.

After 11 months of work the advocacy team in Delcevo made significant changes in their community and initiated national level work in advocating for prevention of the exploitation of women's labor. Furthermore the advocacy team will initiate a dialogue between the trade union and the employers in order to find a mutual solution that would allow the presence of the trade union in the private textile factories.

Our goal was above all to make women workers aware of their RIGHTS, but it changed the minds of all of us.

Anifa Demirovska, Delcevo,
Aferdita Haxhijaha Ymeri, Skopje