About 1,000 trade unionists and employees from the construction sector Wednesday mounted a protest march against illegal labor and illegal payment of salaries. In a news briefing held on this occasion, the head of the construction trade union “Sindicons” Victor Talmaci said the illegal labor can cause considerable damage to the business sector and the construction materials industry. “We support the employers who obey the law and take care of the workers. We are sure that a large part of the employers also support us in the steps we took today. But we are concerned that those who are not with us do illegal work. Some of the employees are forced by employers to do what the latter want and not what they should do after signing collective work contracts as a result of collective or private negotiations so that they know the size of the salary and all the payments and taxes deducted from their salary,” said Victor Talmaci. Oleg Budza, chairman of the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova, said that enormous sums circulate in Moldova’s informal sector that includes the ‘illegal labor’. The underground economy represents 50% and it seriously affects the salary earners who lose social protection and the state that loses incomes. The march is a protest against those who act in collusion with the employers and are exempted from paying taxes. The revenues that fail to be collected into the state budget are put on the shoulders of the honest salary earners. According to the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, about 4.7 billion lei fail to be collected into the state social insurance fund annually as a result of illegal labor and illegal payment of salaries. The march started in the square of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova. Afterward, the marchers went to the Great National Assembly Square. The traffic had been paralyzed for almost an hour.