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The government allocates four million euros for miners' salaries

2024-08-14 14:22:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

The Government of Kosovo has allocated four million euros for the salaries of the miners of the metallurgical combine, Trepça, located in Mitrovica.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, said on Wednesday that this amount has been allocated to overcome the current crisis, since "the company has not managed to secure salaries from production".

Since the beginning of the month of July, the workers of this enterprise have stopped working, because they have not been paid their salaries for the months of June and July, as well as because of the lack of daily allowances for food.

"It seems that there are too many workers on the ground for the few ores extracted from the underground," Kurti said at the Government meeting held on Wednesday.

A total of 1,200 miners work in Trepça, while their average salary is 740 euros.

The Workers' Union of Trepça considers the allocation of these funds to overcome the crisis and resume work to be sufficient.

This union has announced a protest for August 14.

Ibrahim Januzi, head of this union, after the Government's decision, told Radio Free Europe that he has not yet talked with the Protest Council about the announced protest, but "there is no longer a reason for protest".

The management of Trepça, on July 31, justified the non-execution of salaries due to a lack of financial resources and a drop in production.

In a similar situation, the miners of Trepca have found themselves several times during the past year.

At the end of October 2023, for ten consecutive days they were on strike inside the mine precisely because of the non-realization of wages and complaints about working conditions.

The main products that Trepça produces are lead and zinc concentrates containing silver, gold and other elements. The Stantërgu mine, located in the Mitrovica region, is the main source of ore extraction.

The Trepça metallurgical complex is a joint-stock company and 80 percent of the shares belong to the Government of Kosovo, while 20 percent belong to the employees of this company./ Rel