Bad conditions: 22 people lost their jobs in Kosovo during 2018

In the early days of December, Shefqet Fetaj from Peja had an accident at his workplace.

He accidentally broke his hand off the heavy machinery. The same man could not cope with severe wounds, and he passed away just a few days after he lay at CKUK.

Similar accidents at the workplace suffered many others.

Thus, during 2018, these alarming figures have lost their lives all the way to 22 persons.

There are numerous problems facing workers at the workplace, starting with health insurance, labor contracts, lack of job security, writes Indexline.

Adelina Hasani, from KDI, says one of the sectors that have had mostly dead workers has been the construction sector.

The death in the workplace is alarming, because of lack of health insurance, contracts, we see that fatal accidents are in the construction sector. Citizens face great poverty that they agree to work without conditions. With 52 inspectors, it is said the law for the Inspectorate should intensify and their number should increase”, Hasani said.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Labour and Social Management say they are working hard also in empowering the role of the Labour Inspectorate, where the number of inspectors is also envisioned.

Mimoza Kqiku, adviser to Labour Minister Skender Recica, has said that safety and health in the workplace have been a challenge that has accompanied us throughout 2018.

This year we've had 22 cases of job deaths and 112 cases of injuries, but these cases include minor injuries such as scratches, and this has to do with an increase in the awareness of reports of cases near the Labour Inspectorate. MPMS has taken legislative steps to implement the law on Security and Health at work. The Law on Security and Health has been completed with sublegal acts in which 16 directives have been forwarded, and 3 awareness campaigns for security and health at work have been carried out. During 2018, we also drafted the Labour Inspectorate Bill, which went to first reading in the Assembly. This law aims to empower the role of the Labour Inspectorate”, Kqiku said in a conversation for Indexline.

On the other hand, she has suggested that the Labour Inspectorate -- during 2018 -- carried out 8,512 inspections and pronounced 251 fines. Compared to 2017, during 2018 we have over 1,000 more inspections.

In order to increase security in the workplace, MPMS through the Labour Inspectorate has launched a Operational Plan in the construction sector, the sector named at highest risk, where it has landed almost the entire inspectors' contract in Pristina, Fushë Kosovo and Ferizaj. In the course of this operational plan, inspections have been intensified, and several workplaces that were found in violation have been temporarily suspended. Those countries that have improved the conditions and started implementing measures for safety at the workplace, respectively, respect for legislation in force, have been allowed to continue the operations”, it further praised.

MPMS urged all employees to respect security and health legislation at work, as well as invite all employees to report when their rights are violated by employers.

Unlike the private sector, which is the biggest employer in Kosovo, by representatives of workers' rights advocates, it is considered to be the largest worker's rights violator, which therefore has a lower level of job safety, until the situation is much better shown in the public sector.