A never ending strike – Miners’ protest in Bulqizë, Albania, 23 January 2020

...On November 17 a promising public event took place in Bulqizë when the miners of Albchrome officially declared their newly founded union: United Miners Labor Union of Bulqizë...

The activists of “Organizata Politike” traveled to Bulqizë that day to stand in solidarity with the miners, congratulate them on the new labor union and offer whatever help they might need in getting organized. The majority of the activists showing up in support of the miners that day were students that could strongly empathize because they either come from working class families or are underpaid workers themselves. They firmly believe that solidarity between workers and other social groups, especially students, and vigorous efforts at community organizing can lead to genuine change in society.

The event was enriched by their intelligent, supportive and inspiring speeches, focusing especially on the power that the working class in Albania has if it becomes aware of such reality and mobilizes to win back the rights and freedoms denied to it.  Such lively participation by the activist students was so engaging that the crowd grew bigger and bigger drawing a large number of town folk to the event.
That the event was a success one could tell by how alarmingly Albchrome reacted: they terminated the employment of the head of the Union, Elton Debreshi, on the spot! But just as immediate was the workers’ response to this move: they started a protest instantly demanding that Elton be rehired. Albchrome began its threats to everyone protesting, but the protest kept going, expanding its demands to include that all pressure and threats by the company be stopped immediately. Not only did the company not listen to the workers’ voice but it decided to completely crush the labor union by stepping up the pressure even more on everyone involved. Just a few days later, amid ongoing protests, in a despicably loud gesture that runs amuck the Labor Code, an Albchrome representative fired yet another worker right at the company’s gates and in front of everyone.
Mr. Beqir Duriçi, member of the Union Council and in charge of Union finances and record-keeping, was terminated shortly after Elton Debreshi. The strike escalated. More workers joined and the demands expanded while becoming more specific and refined. The workers demanded that Albchrome:

• Raise wages
• Reduce the workload
• Pay the miners during the strike
• Rehire Elton Debreshi and Beqir Duriçi
• Immediately stop the pressure and threats towards the workers...

...[T]he retaliation against workers through termination continued.  Mr. Behar Gjimi was terminated on December 20, and Ali Gjeta on December 26, both for the exact same reasons as their former co-workers. In the meantime, several trade union members were called at the company’s headquarters in Tirana.  Various sources communicated to the labor union that these workers were also singled out to be fired; the reason why they were brought to Tirana had been to warn and intimidate them.

In the interim, in order  to keep a constant work flow during the strike and beyond, AlbChrome adopted a strategy of reassigning workstations or positions held by the striking miners to whatever other workers were present, regardless of experience.  This resulted into a workplace accident on December 19, where a miner, Tush Asllani, was severely injured. The media coverage was absent yet again, and the incident was never reported...