Textile chamber officials from Stip warn that 3,500 workers from 70 textile mills were sent home due to the inability to provide salaries. The industry is struggling with low demand from partners in Europe, but the owners were hoping to keep the mills working with the subsidies promised in the latest round of stimulus. But the program was delayed for months due to the inability of the ruling coalition to gather the necessary votes in Parliament, and was approved only recently.

We hope that we will be able to bring these workers back. But I fear that some of them will not be re-hired, said chamber representative Kiril Naskov.