The situation of workers in the Republic of Kosovo has worsened compared to last year, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the weak and unstable political situation; said today the Executive Director of the Institute for Social Policies “Musine Kokalari”, Mr. Visar Ymeri, during a press conference regarding the general situation of workers in Kosovo, on the occasion of May 1st, International Workers’ Day.<\/p>\n\n
Here is the full text of the conference:<\/p>\n\n
May 1st of this year finds Kosovo in a more difficult situation than in previous years. The Covid-19 pandemic has deeply impacted and complicated economic and social life in the country. Moreover, this situation has been worsened by the weak and unstable political environment. Over four years, Kosovo saw the fall of three governments and held three rounds of elections. We are not saying that elections should not be held when governments fail to maintain their majorities. However, the political parties that take government leadership must prioritize the citizens, especially in a situation of a \u201cpandemic war\u201d.<\/p>\n\n
The legislation that enshrines workers\u2019 rights in Kosovo has changed and improved compared to the situation a decade ago. However, the approach remains problematic. Kosovo\u2019s economy continues to keep the worker at a subsistence level rather than advancing them toward a better standard of living. Thus, basic rules, such as those concerning the minimum wage, as well as important aspects of labor law, only guarantee minimal protection.<\/p>\n\n
The minimum wage threshold of 130 and 170 euros<\/strong> remains an issue that needs to be addressed and changed in relation to the rising cost of living. The Government of Kosovo must not neglect making a proper and well-analyzed decision regarding this increase, based on clear and accurate formulas for determining the minimum wage.<\/p>\n\n Health and safety at work<\/strong> \u2013 except for certain sectors that have minimally improved, the overall situation, especially in some specific sectors, has worsened.<\/p>\n\n Equal opportunities for women and men<\/strong> \u2013 gender equality in employment remains very far off.<\/p>\n\n Non-compliance with the Labor Law<\/strong> \u2013 part-time work, lack of employment contracts, fixed-term contracts, and unpaid overtime continue to be problematic issues.<\/p>\n\n The Institute for Social Policies \u201cMusine Kokalari\u201d has requested data from the Labor Inspectorate and conducted research on the state of occupational safety and health in Kosovo.<\/p>\n\n According to the data, it results that:<\/p>\n\n 10,432 complaints have been submitted to the Labour Inspectorate, 9,801 in the public sector and 646 in the private sector. The highest number of complaints has been related to the realization of the right to the jubilee salary.<\/p>\n\n 3,832 inspections have been carried out according to the Labour Inspectorate\u2019s plans. Out of these, a total of 460 workers were found without employment contracts \u2013 of whom 316 were men and 144 were women. This means that just over 12% of workers at the workplace have no contract at all.<\/p>\n\n 39 entities have failed to inform workers about workplace hazards, as well as protective and preventive measures.<\/p>\n\n In 105 entities, workers have not been trained in first aid, evacuation, and rescue.<\/p>\n\n 225 working entities have not conducted a risk assessment at the workplace<\/p>\n\n 5 workers under the age of 18 have been treated<\/p>\n\n 105 minor injuries occurred during the year 2020<\/p>\n\n 55 serious injuries<\/p>\n\n 11 workplace deaths<\/p>\n\n 110 entities have not granted the right to annual leave in accordance with Labor Law No. 03\/L-212, of which:<\/p>\n\n 41 entities have not respected the daily rest period<\/p>\n\n 47 entities have not respected the weekly rest period<\/p>\n\n 10 entities have not respected the regular working hours<\/p>\n\n 8 entities have not respected the night shift working hours<\/p>\n\n 274 complaints have been filed regarding the right to wage compensation<\/p>\n\n 460 complaints have been filed regarding the violation of the right to pension contribution payments<\/p>\n\n 43 cases have been handled regarding competition issues<\/p>\n\n 10 cases have been handled regarding extended working hours.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The situation of workers in the Republic of Kosovo has worsened compared to last year, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the weak and unstable political situation; said today the Executive Director of the Institute for Social Policies “Musine Kokalari”, Mr. Visar Ymeri, during a press conference regarding the general situation of workers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":938,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7022,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7021\/revisions\/7022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/musineinstitute.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}