KEK's workers protest Tuesday, strike warns

And if it does not meet their demands, unionists warn strikes.

KEK's new Union deputy, Nedzat Llumnica, says they have chosen the protest to submit their demands and give the Kosovo Government ultimatum to meet those requirements.

Llumnica in an interview for Kosova Prees, says that's how they aim to get adequate attention from the government, as he says, they never had talks before the protests, only after them.

The procedure will begin at Zahir Pajaziti Square, will continue towards Mother Teresa Square, in front of KEK's central office at 12:00, on 25 June. At 4:00 we will give as much time as they can to find the possibility of negotiating and implementing the requirements, and if there is no realisation of these requirements, then with the KEK New Trade Union General Council, depending on their mood, we will also decide on strike”, Llumnica says.

According to him, there are a host of requirements that are not implemented by the KEK management, nor by the Government of Kosovo.

“We have a host of requirements that have been collected and not realised by the KEK and the Government of Kosovo management, and this prompted us to protest. One of the points is jubilee wages, which the KEK management recently has decided to give only for 2015-2017. We union, however, demand that this be a continuation not only in this period because they dare not do this kind of discrimination. The KEK regulation also envisions the jubilee wages to be in constant order”, he says.

Speaking of unionists' demands, Llumnica says that one of them is the collective agreement at the level of the sector, as KEK is the only public company in Kosovo that does not have collective agreements.

It also expresses the need for re-visiting the thermal power plant “Kosovo A”.

Kosovo re-visiting is far more favourable than contracting with Contour Global, because it creates an enormous spending. We are not against a new thermal power plant, but we are against this harmful contract for the citizen of Kosovo. If this contract is realised, I am convinced that Kosovo's citizen will be harmed and the price hike will be over 100 percent”, Llumnica says.

While another reason that prompted them to protest, it says there is the law on wages and the amount of food worth 3.5 euros, compared to 1.70 euros currently.

The wage law is discriminatory because KEK workers are not administrative workers and no civil servants, but are corporate workers, thermal power plants and mines and cannot be considered the same conditions as civil servants. Also, the wage law is incompatible with the labour law because the corporation works on shifts and the additional wage of KEK workers working in shifts can reach as much as 20 percent, while in the wage law there is only 8 per cent of the base wage”, he says.

All in the end, Llumica says that so far they have not received any promises from the Kosovo government to meet any of the union requirements.