Workers do not deserve to have their right to rest be the subject of political bargaining, the Office of the President of Montenegro, Jakov Milatović, announced today.
The statement states that Milatović promulgated the Law on Amendments to the Law on Internal Trade, taking into account exclusively the interests of workers in trade, but with the request that the Constitution guarantee a non-working Sunday because it is the only solution that brings security for workers.
"The President has announced amendments to the Law on Internal Trade to allow trade employees to have Sunday as a non-working day. These amendments to the law, which were adopted under public pressure, are not a solution. The same model that has already been declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court has been adopted again. In this way, the Parliament of Montenegro is questioning the rule of law and the decisions of the Constitutional Court, i.e. the equality of other workers who work on Sundays before the Constitution and the law. Instead of solving the problem systematically and in the long term, a solution has been chosen that depends on the current political will and which will again be the subject of dispute," the statement states.
Milatović's cabinet added that without a constitutional guarantee, workers remain exposed to the risk that the rights they have today will be called into question tomorrow.
"Citizens are not looking for temporary solutions, but for security. Workers do not deserve to have their right to rest be the subject of political bargaining. That is why we have proposed an amendment to Article 64 of the Constitution of Montenegro, which would constitutionally guarantee Sundays and public holidays as days of rest, with clearly defined exceptions for activities of public interest. This is the only way to provide employees with security and the right to a non-working Sunday, instead of temporary agreements that are trying to deceive us. By enacting this law, we want to enable employees to have Sunday as a non-working day, but also to call on MPs to vote for a constitutional initiative that will bring security and Sunday as a non-working day, guaranteed by the Constitution of Montenegro. Workers' rights must no longer depend on political bargaining, but must be guaranteed by the Constitution," the statement reads.
On February 16, the Parliament of Montenegro adopted amendments to the Law on Internal Trade, which allowed the return of a non-working Sunday in wholesale and retail trade. This decision was supported by 62 MPs, and both the government and the opposition voted in favor of it.
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