Covid-19 implications and the realisation of labour rights in the Republic of North Macedonia

The Covid-19 virus presents an invisible menace of major proportions. We have as yet no clear study of the causes of the virus - or, more precisely, its precise aetiology is disputed - yet it has had colossal implications. It has imposed a global public discourse which has severely eroded both collective and individual sense and consciousness. This article offers some thoughts on the social implications of the pandemic as regards labour in the early days after the virus arrived in North Macedonia, drawing on media reports of particular developments and focusing in particular on violations of employment rights and the problems of workers likely to be most at risk. The break in economic activities, a (further) fall in standards of living and the decline in GDP and, hence, the loss of jobs and the overall increase in unemployment rates further deepen the sense of (inter)national crisis. We still do not know how long this will last and the death toll that will ultimately be reached; furthermore, countries that are already struggling will, at that point, face a disproportionately sizable task in achieving social reconstruction and rehabilitation.