A corrupt state against the rights of miners
The institutions that are supposed to be the guarantors of the implementation of the Labour Code have chosen the side of the violators
Dear comrades, union members, supporters and friends,
AlbChrome continues to threaten our colleagues with dismissal if they are members of the United Miners of Bulqiza Trade Union (SMBB) and imposed them to join the yellow union. The bad news is they are assisted by the Ministry of Finance and Economy.
⚒ Since the end of November 2019, when the miners’ strike began, the United Miners of Bulqiza Trade Union (SMBB) declared that one of its main requests was the negotiation of the new Collective Agreement. Back then AlbChrome and the old yellow union did not express any stance on this request, because they had concentrated all of their efforts on preventing the strike-through blackmailing and illegally firing four of our union's leaders. They never considered that the miners would massively join the new democratic union—the United Miners of Bulqiza Trade Union—and they carried on with the propaganda on the achievements of the old yellow union. In a declaration on 30th of November 2019, the Trade Union Federation of Industrial Workers of Albania and the Confederation of the Albanian Trade Unions used the existing Collective Agreement to convince the miners of the “achievements” of the old yellow union. On that declaration, they stated that the Collective Agreement that was still valid until then would expire on January 31st 2020.
When SMBB reached the majority of the membership and formally requested the negotiation of the new Collective Agreement on 26th of December 2019, the company refused to accept the letter that arrived by mail, coming up with the excuse that their director was on holiday. When the United Miners of Bulqiza Trade Union sent again the letter of request for the right to negotiate the Collective Agreement as the representative union of the majority of workers, by mid-January, AlbChrome responded that the Collective Agreement had been amended since October 2019 for an indefinite period. Clearly the old union didn't know that the contract was changed since it declared on November 30th that the deadline of the contract was on January 30th, 2020.
This apparent attempt at counterfeiting would not be so disturbing if it were not supported by the state institutions, particularly the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the Inspectorate of Labour and Social Services. These institutions that were supposed to be the guarantors of the implementation of the Labour Code have chosen the side of its violators. This scenario stinks of forgery. AlbChrome, on the one hand, and the union of Taf Koleci and Kol Nikolla on the other, are trying for months now to denigrate us and find ways to avoid the United Miners of Bulqiza Trade Union, the union representing the majority of the miners at AlbChrome mine pit. For more than two months, the amendment of the Collective Agreement was never mentioned. The miners were not the only ones not to be aware of such “change”; neither did the old union who supposedly signed this amendment. This is a scenario was put into play after the United Miners of Bulqiza Trade Union had filled its ranks with the majority of the miners and therefore had won the right to negotiate the new Collective Agreement.
This forgery was preceded by another violation of the Labour Code; that of denying the right to a copy of the Collective Agreement to the workers, as well as to the union that represented them, SMBB. We have sent a number of requests to state institutions (Ministry of Finance and Economy, Office of Labour of Bulqiza, Office of Labour of Diber, Inspectorate of Labour) asking them to send us a copy of the existing Collective Agreement, since this document was never provided to us neither by AlbChrome nor by its pet union, in clear violation of the law. Only four days ago, after the pressure exerted by the international trade unions, the Collective Agreement was displayed publicly on the walls of the company’s premises. Nonetheless, this action is still in violation of the law since it took place after the old agreement expired and, what is worse, it is followed by a forged appendix.
The fact that the old agreement must have been forged by AlbChrome and the old union, casts serious doubts on the new Collective Agreement, which was made public only after the request from the foreign trade unions. All the above-mentioned facts, including the contradictory statements, would provide sufficient material for a serious prosecutor’s office and inspectorate to start the investigative work on forgery grounds. Following down this path, AlbChrome and its partners, Taf Koleci and Kol Nikollaj, are trying to win some time hoping to raise barriers to SMBB. This shall not pass!
We are preparing the necessary documents for suing in court all the counterfeiters involved in this case and to prove the illegality of the forged Collective Agreement. The entire file will become available to the international trade unions with which SMBB maintains close contact. The exploiters of the miners, who are now trying to cheat them through counterfeiting, shall receive what is coming to them!
⚒ February 5th, 2020, a delegation of representatives from the World and European Trade Union of Industry Workers, IndustriALL Global and IndustriALL Europe, visited our offices in Bulqiza. Due to the interest in forming the new union, the meeting with representatives of these two international organizations, Anne-Marie Mureau and Ildiko Kren, lasted for more than 4 hours.
During the conversation, the Bulqiza United Miners' Union introduced international colleagues to the conditions that led to the formation of the Democratic Union of SMBBs, as an organization formed and run by the miners in Bulqiza themselves, for better salaries and better working conditions. Following the introduction of membership and forms of organization and functioning of the union, international colleagues received detailed information on threats and coordinated attacks against workers' organization, attacks that are a flagrant violation of International Conventions and Albanian labour legislation.
⚒ Since the only financial source of our trade union comes from the contributes of supporters, we call you to assist SMMB as far as possible. Any contribution, however modest, is of great help to us and to the battle for the rights of miners.
After a few weeks of trying in the state offices, it was very difficult for us to open a bank account for our union, with the following information:
Account Name: SIND OF MINATOR TO UNIT BULKIZE
Account Number: 0001449904 (Raiffeisen Bank Albania)
IBAN: AL72202110060000000001449904
Swift Code: SGSBALTX
Any contribution made will be reflected in greater transparency.
Solidarity is our only weapon!
⚒ More to read: Unearthing stories from Bulqiza's Underground
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