FOREWORD In the Republic of Macedonia(today the Republic of North Macedonia) from the 80 years of the last century, a historical process of social and economic transformation has begun: privatization of enterprises with social capital into a market economy with dominant private ownership, and replacement of one­party political system with multi-party political system. In this turbulent period, the Republic of Macedonia found itself in the whirlwind of historical events in the former Federation and gaining independence. For the unions, the transition processes in the country were a strong challenge in representing the rights and interests of workers- union membership, for which changes were inevitable in organizational terms and in the manner, methods and principles of action, institutional set-up and realization of the role of social partner in creating policies in the economic and social sphere and the labor-legal position of workers. Given the huge number of activities of trade unions, despite the current volume of research on trade unionism in our country in that period, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the marking of the strategic efforts of trade unions in the interest of exercising and improving the labor rights of their membership and workers, in accordance to international labor standards. How the present and future generations of workers are unionized to defend and promote their rights, how to fight and achieve their goals to live with dignity from their labor, how to go through hardships together and participate in building a modern, democratic society, as it is declared with the Constitution of our country, the Republic of North Macedonia. For the sake of clarity, conceptualized presentation of trade union activities and actions, in this publication they are classified into 10 parts, according to the main thematic areas that are subject to the treatment of trade unions in their strategies and platforms. Until the emergence of trade union pluralism, the trade union activities and actions of the trade unions united in SSM, as the only trade union, are presented. Special thanks to the unions at all levels of organization, to the reviewers for the well-intentioned suggestions, as well as to all other collaborators for the professional and moral support during the writing of this paper. From the author Inda Kostova Savik FOREWORD 13