The Minister of Economy and Innovation, Delina Ibrahimaj, maintained a neutral stance on the Spaç mine miners' strike, viewing the issue simply as a conflict between employees and the private company, but opposition and majority MPs insisted that the miners' constitutional rights had been violated and called for intervention.
Minister Delina Ibrahimaj provided clarifications on Tuesday before the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights regarding the responsibilities that this ministry has for resolving the demands of the striking miners of the Spaç mine.
Ibrahimaj spoke in a wooden voice about the role of the ministry, seeing this role simply as a mediator between the miners and the concession company "TETE Albania", without the legal power to take concrete measures against the company for the dismissal of the 67 striking miners.
She said she feared a lawsuit from the company if it intervened at this moment to take action based solely on the miners' claims, and alluded that the strike had begun without fulfilling the condition for mediation.
"We will verify the situation and the implementation of working conditions after all this is over," she said, adding that "since we do not have an institutional verification of the claims, we cannot take measures based on assumptions."
According to Ibrahimaj, "in the past, when measures were taken without documentation, companies won lawsuits and incurred additional costs."
The Minister presented a picture of the situation and the attempts that the department she heads has made to resolve the conflict between the miners and the company.
"There are no concrete findings of union violations by the employer at this stage," she said, among other things, while claiming that "the strike began without prior notice, which requires further assessment."
Maintaining a 'neutral' role, Ibrahimaj emphasized several times that the ministry had asked the concession company to reinstate the dismissed strikers and that it had suggested to the Confederation of Trade Unions "the return of the strikers to work in order not to worsen their social situation."
Ibrahimaj did not mention at any point the demands for which the miners have gone on strike, which are related to the right to form their own union, difficult working conditions, lack of safety and low wages.
The chairwoman of the commission, Jorida Tabaku, said that "the right to work and the right to strike is a constitutional right that must be respected," considering what happened with the dismissal of the striking miners as a violation of the Constitution, domestic laws and international conventions and beyond any moral and ethical principle.
Socialist MP Erjon Braçe also discussed the issue as a fundamental right of miners that cannot be negotiated.
"When the company says you won't have a union because I don't want one, you have nothing to negotiate. The Constitution is not negotiated with anyone, regardless of your status," he addressed the minister.
According to Braçe, the miners were denied their constitutional right to join a union and the shift manager was fired, causing the miners to refuse to enter the gallery. “He refused a corrupt agreement with the owner,” he said, referring to the shift manager’s dismissal.
"The only solution is for them to return to work and then negotiate collective contracts or salaries, but not constitutional rights," he insisted, also raising concerns that the miners were working 26 days a month, contrary to legal provisions.
Other MPs from the opposition and the majority also raised the issue in the same way, focusing on the rights of workers and asking the ministry to exercise its responsibilities to resolve the issue in their favor.
"Both parties come together and this is an institutional request to return the miners to work, then conduct the administrative investigations that need to be carried out," Tabaku requested from the ministry.
The miners' strike has been ongoing since early October, and a week ago they were heard by the Human Rights Commission where they presented their demands. They requested state support and accused the Labor Inspectorate and the Ministry of Economy of neglecting these demands. /BIRN/
