More than three years have passed since the general collective contract expired and this is preventing many workers in Kosovo from enjoying their rights arising from this contract.
Officials of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare told TIME that in 2018 the Economic-Social Council had mandated the professional commission for tripartite legislation, which worked on the negotiation and drafting of the new collective agreement.
Fatima Avdyli-Rexhepi, head of the Secretariat at the Economic-Social Council of Kosovo, said that this draft agreement has been approved in principle, but due to political developments, it was constantly left without being approved and signed.
"After the formation of the new government, the Economic-Social Council again initiated the negotiation of the collective agreement. The relevant commission, which functions within the KES, has managed to complete the draft agreement. At the same time, the Professional Commission for Finance, Economy and Privatization was mandated to analyze the financial cost of this agreement. This committee issued a recommendation for the additional cost, as well as the total cost of the agreement. The recommendation was planned to be presented at the next meeting of the Economic-Social Council and to decide on the steps to be taken regarding setting the date for its signature. Again, due to recent political developments, this meeting was not held and as a result this process was not completed", said Avdyli-Rexhepi.
The general collective contract foresees, among other things, that upon retirement the workers will enjoy three additional salaries, but this is not being implemented by employers in the private sector, due to the expiration of the term of the collective contract. Meanwhile, in the public sector, this issue is being regulated by internal regulations.
"The employee, in the case of retirement, enjoys the right to follow-up payment in the amount of three (3) monthly salaries, which he has received for the last three (3) months", the agreement document states.
Jusuf Azemi, chairman of the Independent Union of the Private Sector in Kosovo, says that the collective contract should have been signed these days, according to the announcements that have come out from the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.
Azemi says that in the private sector, only a small spark is enough for nothing to be implemented.
"Nothing is being implemented in the private sector, jubilee salaries have remained with public sector workers, a small spark is enough and nothing is being implemented in the private sector", he said.
The Chairman of BSPK, Avni Ajdini, when asked about this, asked to refer to a communique issued by this institution, however, the communique only expresses the desire to reach an agreement on the general collective contract, after the signing of the collective contract for the Education sector between the Government of Kosovo and SBASHK, two days ago.
"We believe that by following these good examples of agreement cooperation, a lot of work will also be done in signing the general agreement at the country level", the communiqué states.
In the institution of the People's Advocate, they say that during the last three years there have been many complaints from private sector workers due to violations of their rights.
However, according to the People's Advocate, workers in Kosovo are not well informed about the laws and their rights.
"During the 3-year period of 2018, 2019 and 2020, the Ombudsman has received 145 complaints and investigated 38 cases. Complaints are from the private employment sector and they are mainly related to employment without a work contract, termination of the work contract without prior notice, non-payment of monthly income, suspension of monthly salary without justification, non-granting of annual leave, extended working hours work and without compensation, non-payment of maternity leave, non-recognition and payment of medical leave, severe working conditions, insecurity at work, etc., says a response of this institution to KOHEN.
According to the People's Advocate, in the cases that the People's Advocate has opened for discrimination at work, after analyzing the cases, he has asked employers to eliminate discriminatory actions related to the right to work, but in some cases he has appeared in the capacity of a friend of the court in the court proceedings which take place in the courts for the complained parties.
The first general collective agreement of Kosovo entered into force on January 1, 2015, the validity period of which, according to article 90, paragraph 4 of the Labor Law, was three years.
The agreement was signed by the Government of Kosovo, representatives of the Economic Chamber of Kosovo, the Kosovo Business Alliance, the Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo and the Economic-Social Council.