With daily reports of large groups of workers in the textile, leather and other industries being fired, VMRO-DPMNE warns that Macedonia is facing a return to the dark days of the 1990ies, when the Communist era factories were collapsing one by one.

A hundred families are left on the street in Bargala in Stip, 300 in Moda in Sveti Nikola, over 50 in Alkon Teks. Workers in Vinica are being paid 100 denars a month. We expect thousands of job losses by the end of the month, due to the drop in orders from abroad. Macedonian textile companies are facing a huge drop in demand from their foreign partners, VMRO-DPMNE warned.

The party warns of a repeat of the previous major period of de-industrialization, again under SDSM, after the collapse of Communism. Major chemical, metal, textile and wood working factories collapsed in the 1990-ies, and devastated Macedonia’s industrial production for decades.

Darko Dimovski from the SSM union says that the affected textile and shoe companies are unlikely to survive. The union is helping the fired workers contest the firings and the furlough orders.