The American company "Vabtek", a global manufacturer of braking systems for rail vehicles, which took over the braking equipment part from the former "Metal Institute Tito", has a constantly open job vacancy for technicians in the production process. Hence, they say that this category of workers is deficient and that the biggest problem for labor is in the summer when there is fluctuation among the companies themselves, but also when many go abroad as seasonal workers.

The company, as we have already written, carries out the search for quality staff through advertising billboards placed at frequent intersections in Skopje. Igor Andonoski, director of human resources in the company, in an interview with "Free Press" says that we have general prejudices about working in manufacturing companies, but that "Vabtek" offers equal and good opportunities for career development because the CNC machines are very complex processes take place.

How did you decide to look for workers in this unusual way - through billboards?

- We did the same 3 years ago. Then a lot of people who had no experience applied, we conducted training and many of them are still in our company. Looking at the current state of the labor market, we are now trying again. The situation is different. Many people left the country, especially with the withdrawal of the coffin and the lifting of restrictions. On the other hand, there is a constant shortage of qualified staff. In order to provide staff, we have constant communications and signed a memorandum with the High School of Mechanical Engineering "September 8" and the High School of Electrical Engineering "Mihajlo Pupin". Our perception is that the number of students in these schools is small compared to other schools. As for the engineers, the situation is better there.

The general remarks of young people leaving the country are salaries and working conditions. Maybe that is an obstacle for you for new employments?

- I would not come up with specific figures, but I can say that we offer competitive packages and that the average net salary in our company is higher than the net salary at the national level, continuously. We take great care of workers, and wages, however, are dictated by the labor market. Here I would like to emphasize that here men and women have equal opportunities. There is a stigma in engineering that it is a man's job, but we have women who work on both machines and assembly and in the quality department. We are especially flexible for women because in our country women are still seen as someone who has to do the housework and be a parent in terms of all responsibilities to the child and also be a worker.

дека Given that you are an American company, can you draw a parallel between the recruitment of workers there and the respect of their rights and what is happening in our country?

- Our company in 50 countries has 150 factories with 27.000 employees worldwide. Of course, we have a standardized framework of work - exchange of experiences with colleagues from other countries and additionally a central team for recruiting workers. This is a global labor crisis. We need to be realistic that we are not a country that attracts foreign workers, but rather a country that exports them.

We have the maximum respect for the rights in accordance with the Law on Labor Relations and the collective agreement, and we have a union organization with which we cooperate well and we are together in all this, ie we sail on the same boat.

Do you often face a problem that many companies point out - to invest in training new staff, and soon he will leave for another job?

- Yes, there are such cases in all companies. We try to keep people and we constantly try to offer certain motivation packages. In the summer months there is always a greater fluctuation of the labor force. But people should be aware that by leaving for seasonal work, they lose the opportunity for career development. With us, we take maximum care of everyone, of their career path. It works on the most modern CNC machines, so you can progress from working with the simplest operations, to tuning and programming the machines, which is almost an engineering job.