Kurti boasted that she has done much for the workers, opposition with unions and civil society pronounces it a decision on May 1st.

Prime Minister Albin Kurti has listed on Monday a series of arguments from his position for what he has done for workers on International Labor Day.

But opposition and trade unions in the country disagree.

The situation of workers in the private sector has improved, but not enough, Gazetat told Yusuf Azemi, chairman of the Independent Private Sector Workers' Association.

For this „upgrade“Azem deserves not to belong to the Government of Kosovo nor to the companies, but to the situation created, to the great escape of Kosovars abroad.

The lack of labor power is the reason we've started to get a lot of offers, and we're in the moment to choose wages, even for conditions“, he said.

The unionist criticises Kurt for destroying those who make sure that workers have better working conditions - the Cindicates.

The code in 2023 destroyed several unions, that was”, Azemi says.

He even stresses that” seems to be deliberately wanting young people out of Kosovo“.

That's what you reason with the fact that the executive is doing nothing about signing the collective contract.

Pos, the collective contract, the problem remains even the minimum wage in Kosovo is 170 euros for workers over the age of 35 and 130 euros below that age.

The Kosovo Assembly has spent its first reading of the Minimal Pagan Bill, which will be 264 euros gross.

Azem warns that the minimum wage will not even be dealt with by Kurt.

The prime minister no longer decides for the minimum wage in the company. Our power, the quantification of our quality makes it our own”, has declared the head of private sector unionists.

The Ministry of Finance says that in Kosovo there are 17 Sosh, but Azemi says union organisation in the country is greater than reported in official numbers.

According to him, there are many more unregistered associations who cannot reach the required 10 per cent rate of staff, as Kosovo jurisdiction requires.

There's much more union organization. The workers can also become part of the union without being in an association“, Azemi said.

May 1 Finds Women in a Hard Job

Luljeta Demolli, from the Kosovar Centre for Gender Equality, has been alarmed that women's employment continues to remain low, thus arguing that there is discrimination on gender grounds in Kosovo.

Unemployment in women relies on data from the Kosovo Statistics Agency (ASK), under which in the first quarter of 2022, female employment has been 17.9 percent.

In Kosovo, 77.9 percent of inactive power is women, according to the same report.

Women's unemployment is 18.9 percent, they reflect AK data.

When it says that women don't work that means they don't get paid, women work at home caring for children and the elderly”, Demoll said as he expressed concern about women's lack of economic activity.

According to her, the state should act to pay off women who work at home.

Women who have a job contract also perform household chores. According to the Riinvest Institute report “Gratte at the Labour Market”, published in 2017, women on average work 7 hours and 30 minutes, then three hours home.

In this regard, Demolli demanded more progressive policy from the Government, has added government policy through which employed women are paid six months out of 170 euros, while those employed three months.

” With the new labour law needs to be divided between husband and wife and not the woman so long away from economic activity”, she has stated.

The government's decision to let the nongovernmental feminist organisations name it <x0Patrical”, but a string of criticisms has also occurred from the European Union, alluding to what women are urged to have more children or to remain completely unemployed.

Women's problems expand into pregnancy, which lost their jobs or landed in position after their return to work, according to the Union.

As reflected by Demolli's statements and reports of women on the job market, their problems are not exhausted.

Demolli even alarmed that in Kosovo there is discrimination in wages on gender grounds. The discrimination except gender is also ethnic.

Non-communities complain we're being discriminated against at work 

When any competition comes, there is no equal treatment. They automatically look at the elemenus. But even when simple workers are admitted to work, they don't have the salaries as majority“, the description begins Genc Broqi, program manager in the organisation” Rome Versitas Kosovo”

He in a proposal for Gazeta Express has said that workers of the non-US community are forced to perform more difficult jobs.

There are times when forced to do hard work. They often get even without contracts so that they can get when they want and have no one to protect”, he said.

In Kosovo jurisdiction, communities are protected through quotas, but Broqi has added that these quotas are misused.

According to him, there are criteria that Roma communities, Ashkali and Egypt cannot afford.

They're looking for a janitor to have a high school, where it's known that many women from the communities don't have middle schooling”, he said.

It continues that whenever the criteria are not implemented by these communities, an Albanian or a Serb is always employed.

What has the Government done for Workers' Rights?

Based on the beliefs of Prime Minister Kurti (left), he is to prioritize workers ' rights. In addition to the work and straight slogan, Kurti had also promised partnership with unions. But governance has faced Kurti, which is due to unions, especially those in the public sector and separately with education.

For these categories, Kurti has said that he has raised wages through the Law of the Salaries. The issue has been debated if a mind was growing.

For the workers and what Kurti did in a post Monday that he started with wages. He said the minimum wage is rising to 250 euros.

He added that even the number of inspectors for monitoring these rights is increasing.

In order to increase inspections for the best implementation of the labour law, the budget is divided to increase the number of field inspectors. While in this year's budget we've seen 240 additional inspectors in different sectors”, Kurti wrote on Facebook.

In addition, Kosovo's prime minister claims government policies have increased employment in general form.

Kosovo has suffered both unemployment and labour rights violations. We are trying to eliminate rights violations at work to the maximum, along with expanding employment. We are aware of the situation in which we found the worker, but we will continue to be uncompetitive in regulating the working conditions and respecting his guaranteed rights with the Constitution”, Kurti said.

Opposition: Be done more for workers' rights.

Memli Krasniqi, chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), has generalised criticism of the workers' situation.

Through a Facebook post, he said how states and societies have failed to provide merit treatment for each worker.

As a state and as a society, we have yet to ensure merit treatment for every worker in any sector that works. Furthermore, the great challenge of mass migration of our young people seeking a perspective away from Kosovo should be overcome through concrete engagement in creating a favourable environment that offers equal opportunities, competitive wage jobs and fair appreciation for the contribution of workers”, Krasniqi has written.

For 1 May, Avdullah Hoti from the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) has given four “vision“, starting with” not raising salaries for the public sector”, basing its argument on high inflation rates.

The public sector wage law created more problems than it resolved. This law created uncertainty after significantly lowering wages in independent institutions and rare trade professions (information technology experts, different engineers and so forth). Because his approval was postponed for no reason, it was too late to be budgeted regularly in the 2023 budget. Due to the lack of consultations with trade unions, many employed people remained disappointed and the law ended at the Constitutional Court” is Hoti's second observation.

It then continues with criticism of not increasing the minimum wage as well as doubling property tax. According to opposition MP, these strain the lives of citizens.

That citizens have found it difficult to live in Kosovo is also thought by Ramush Haradinaj, chairman of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), under which inflation and low wages are draining Kosovo every day.

The labour campaign is leaving every day, our country is leaving without doctors, without engineers, economists and non-instructives. Kosovo risks losing even without security members because youth is running out of“, Haradinaj wrote on Facebook.

To overcome this situation, the AAK leader wants the Government to move on.

IF the government to raise salaries in the public sector, find modalities for salary increases in the private sector, where there is the biggest blow from inflation, as well as most importantly, to unblock the state budget”, Haradinaj wrote.

Kosovo protested

For the first four months of this year in Kosovo, nine workers have lost their lives, said Yusuf Azemi, chairman of the Private Sector Workers Union.

The May Day 2023 protest in Kosovo began with a minute of silence.

The government has been late, clear or goodbye to”, the pano that protesters have shared with. Some other calls are “The government signed the collective agreement” and “Rore wages, work for 200 euros”, were some of the protest banners.

In Kosovo, May 1 is officially a holiday.