Seeking job security and better working conditions, miners at a copper mine under the control of "Tete Albania" in the Spaç area have been protesting for 3 days and have announced a hunger strike. The company has denied the problems.
Around 70 workers at the copper mine in Spaç, Mirdita, have been protesting for three days, boycotting work in protest of working conditions and minimum wages. The miners have presented a series of demands to the Turkish concession company “Tete Albania”, but negotiations between the parties have failed, deepening tensions in the workplace.
One of the miners' main demands is the recognition of the union formed in August and the signing of a collective agreement, which they say would guarantee rights and job security. They claim that the company has not only refused dialogue, but has also taken punitive measures against the protest organizers.
"Seeing the daily problems, we saw it necessary to organize into a union to protect our rights. They did not accept this movement and even fired me from my job as its organizer," says Albert Bushpreni, the dismissed miner.
He says the company had tried to disperse the movement, but it has not succeeded and that the protest will continue until the demands are met. “Maybe the owner doesn’t even want us alive, but we were born on these lands that they are exploiting. The wages are minimal and the working conditions underground are extremely difficult. We risk our health and lives every day,” he said.
Other workers share the same concerns, highlighting the lack of basic conditions and low wages in relation to the danger they face every day underground.
“We are working in inadequate conditions, risking our health every day. The wages are ridiculous for the work we do underground. We work beyond the set hours, we have no days off, and the transportation is scandalous. We will not back down until our demands are met. It is unacceptable to be treated this way, while the company refuses to listen to us,” says Kastriot Prenga, a miner in Spaç.
Representatives of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania have also joined in supporting the protest, warning of an indefinite hunger strike if the miners' demands are not taken into consideration.
"The company is preventing a fundamental right of workers – union organizing. This is unacceptable," declared Klodian Islami, Secretary General of the Federation of Industry.
Islami said that on Monday, at 07:00 in the morning, a hunger strike will begin in front of the company's premises.
The miners have previously requested intervention from the National Employment Agency, which has mediated a meeting between the parties, but without concrete results. Meanwhile, the company "Tete Albania", contacted about this issue, has described the miners' demands as "illegal", denying the accusations and claims raised against it.
The protest in Spaç comes in a sector where workplace accidents and worker dissatisfaction are recurrent, while unions are demanding that the government intervene to guarantee respect for the rights of workers in hazardous industries such as mining.
Spaçi has a troubled history, as during the communist dictatorship the mine in this area was used as a labor camp for political prisoners, who worked in extreme and inhumane conditions. /BIRN/
