Union discontent, wage law: Kurt writes about May 1st, calls for solidarity and union organization

Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti, on International Workers' Day, has indicated the results of his governance in the economy, employment and salary raising. He has also talked about union organisation and changing the Labour and Employment Law.

Kurti, through a Facebook post, has said that the “over the past 12 months have witnessed increased care for the workers' situation in our society. The Central Labour Inspectorate to oversee workers ' rights in 2023, compared to 2020, has tripled the number of inspections, resulting in 8,114 inspections. We've doubled the budget for the Inspectorate which through 2022 and 2023 through the recruiting procedures has doubled the number of job inspectors. This year the number of inspectors reaches 150, thus fulfilling our promise of five times the number of job inspectors”.

“We initiated the mandate with measures promoting workers' statements such as the 1.2th measure of the Economic Rhythll Pack. Because an undeclared, contract-free worker cannot even demand the realisation of their rights. And the job of declaring the workers intensified with the launch of joint inspections of Kosovo's Labour Inspectorate and Tax Administration, where only the first two months have been declared over 10,000 workers. It's also under way to regulate the proclamation of seasonal workers and the household sector, this several-year-old problem, making sure that we have payment of pension contributions and dignified treatment in all sectors of the economy”, Kurti wrote.

Furthermore, Kurti has said the government he heads has taken a series of employment measures, which resulted in increased employment for 70 thousand jobs in the first three years of governance.

“E compared to employment measures, we also took measures to raise salaries. In the private sector, we subsidised salary growth for 17 thousand workers, while in the public sector last year we raised salaries for 17% on average this year for 5% more. For about 100,000 private sector workers, we also passed the bill that allows minimum wage growth, and implementation will start once the law voted in the Republic Assembly is unblocked by the Constitutional Court”.

Kurti has said that the “agenda of protecting workers' rights and employment will be enriched by changing the Labour and Employment Law through which we will ensure more rights and more opportunities for dignified employment”.

“Today is the day we have to show right now, but also commemorate the workers historically. In antiquity and in Middle Ages, free days were sometimes set aside for workers and craftsmen. During the French Revolution a day's work the month of September was designated as a holiday. In the United States for many generations, July 4 was also celebrated as Labor Day. This practice began in 1790 when some unions officially joined the Republican-Democratic Jefferson societies that fought the aristocratic trends of the time. The employees believed that only by joining through solidarity as 13 colonies had done would they gain collective power to overcome challenges towards a better future. In 1820-1830, the celebration of July 4th as the day of the workers became a tradition through it was aimed at completing the Independence Day event in 1776, joining in the workplace, and against the old trends of employers treating the worker as expense to be controlled. The July 4th celebration as the day of workers in this light lasted until 1880 when the May 1st event emerged and Worker's Day” wrote the prime minister.

He has said it is important to remember that the workers back then did not enjoy the human treatment they have today.

“was worked from 10 to 16 hours a day, for seven days each week. The workplace was dangerous and offered no protection. The fee for the job was very low. The changes that came later did not result from the generation of employers to workers. The changes came through the organization of workers who worked hard and went through many challenges to unite and gain allies in their struggle for more rights. In this sequence, we remember the resistance of workers in Chicago who on May 1, 1886, went on a general strike with a request for eight hours of work, which was considered absurd at the time but had already become part of a global work movement. The strike culminated in the event at “Haymarket” Square in Chicago, where workers and policemen were killed and more than 200 people injured. May Day is celebrated publicly as the day of workers”.

May 1:1 teaches us that only united in society and at the workplace we can secure our rights and work for a promotional future for all. This teaching is especially valuable today in view of the world's macros of pandemic aggression, war, rising authoritarianism, and economic crisis. Even so, the micro aggression of other issues that affect the life and work of the worker tend to be postponed and left out, and that does not happen. We also see it in our country, given space on the one hand, and proven interest in geopolic and autocratic matters, while on the other, the struggle of workers in the private sector against oligarch employers is not presented, printed and suppressed, and deliberately kept silent. Workers in the private sector should be solidarity with each other and be organized through their unions. We must be their faithful and willing allies. Only united, with powerful unions and broad social and institutional support, do they reverse the tendencies of oligarch employers to exploit and silence workers. More unity, more organization, more power!”, Kurti wrote.