Without salaries of €600 until July of this year, technical workers and private security staff financed by the Municipality of Pristina are warning of a collective resignation from their workplaces.

This was stated at a press conference of the Private Sector Trade Union of Kosovo, where the chairman Jusuf Azemi said this is a final decision and called on the municipality to react.

He also explained what was discussed in a meeting with several heads of trade union associations at the level of the Municipality of Pristina. Among other things, he also announced a protest on May 1, the day when International Workers’ Day is marked.

“There was a meeting in which we discussed the increase of wages for workers of public-private companies, we discussed the 13th salary, we discussed the package announced by the Government of Kosovo, namely Minister Hekuran Murati, and we discussed the organization of the protest on May 1 that will be held,” he said.

At the press conference, Azemi warned that technical workers and private security staff employed by the Municipality of Pristina will leave their jobs.

“For the salary increase up to €600, technical workers and security staff financed by the Municipality of Pristina, a unanimous decision has been made that if their salaries are not set at €600 through contracts, these workers will collectively leave their workplaces, because they have found jobs offering higher pay than what they currently receive. It was a unanimous decision and I call on the Municipality of Pristina to address these workers, to call the union representatives and reach an agreement… Because if a contract is signed on May 15 for these workers, that contract is not being signed for five or six months, it is being signed for at least three years, and imagine the inflation effect on a €600 salary after three years. This is a final decision and there is nothing more to discuss,” he said.

Azemi also called the exclusion of private sector workers from the 13th salary discriminatory.

“We have said, and workers have also expressed, that the 13th salary is discrimination against private sector workers in Kosovo, and we do not give up. We believe that the Government still has time to allocate the 13th salary, because it comes from the same budget that we all have access to. Public sector workers have access, private sector workers have access. This budget is funded by private sector workers as well. Our salaries are much lower, we do much harder work than colleagues in hospitals and family medicine centers, and in addition to hard work, their lives are also at risk,” he added.

Regarding all these grievances, he said a protest will be held on May 1, International Workers’ Day.

“This union has decided that on May 1, regarding all these issues we discussed and many others we did not mention, a protest will be held regarding the non-fulfillment of demands submitted from last May until now,” he stated.