Albania: AlbChrome Company breaks labor law again

We call on the Labour Inspectorate and all other law-abiding institutions to wake up from their sluggish sleep and force the company to comply with the law. United Miners of Bulqiza January 21 Yesterday, on 20 January, the Chairman of the Board of AlbChrome, Luan Saliaj, refused to allow the leaders of the United Miners of Bulqiza Trade Union to exercise their legal rights to meet with the union's members in the working environment.

According to point 7 of Article 181 of the Labour Code: The employer shall create the necessary conditions and facilitate the elected representatives of the trade union organisations to meet with the trade union members for the normal exercise of their functions specified in the collective agreement. For this reason, the employer is obliged to meet the trade union organisations: a) allow access to the work premises; b) allow the distribution of information, brochures, announcements and other documents of the trade union organisation; c) allow its members the time to participate in the activities of the organisation at home and abroad; d) allow and facilitate the collection of quotas for the union and the organisation of meetings in the work premises. Yesterday's situation arose after the repeated disregard of the many requests made to the company to make such a meeting possible. Luan Saliaj, upon his arrival at the premises of AlbChrome, where the leaders of the SMBB were expecting a meeting with the members according to the law, said that he could only meet with the trade unionists as "Luan" for the sake of his "humanity", but not as the manager of AlbChrome. In contrast, Mr Petrit Cara, the local director of the company, said that he could meet with the union representatives according to his schedule, but only as "Petrit, her roommate", without being allowed to meet with the miners. Petrit as a director of AlbChrome, and not just as "Petrit", and Luan as a director of the company, and not just as "Luan", should familiarise themselves with the laws applicable in the Republic of Albania. Yesterday's illegal behaviour comes on top of a long list of cases where the company has broken the law, starting with the dismissal of four trade unionists - a case for which we will soon be going to court. We call on the Labour Inspectorate and all other law-abiding institutions to wake up from their lethargic sleep and force the company to comply with the law. Our patience has reached its limits.