According to INSTAT, there were about one million employed people in Albania by the end of 2015. Of those one million, 164 thousand are employed in public administration, 395 thousand in the private sector, and 444 thousand in the private agricultural sector. About 35% of the population is employed, among which 560 thousand or 20% are working in the public or private sector (excluding agriculture).
One of the main engines of the economy is the efficient use of the working force.
One of the main duties of the modern state is the regulation of employment relations, labor security, and all issues related to it, because the social and economical effects of these relations influence the entire society. This influence is especially felt in countries where healthcare and social security are provided by the state.
In Albania, the workers are the least protected part of the labor relations. In a normal state, the latter would determine the minimal ethical and economical conditions to protect the dignity of the worker.
But in Albania labor rights are only for the rich, to threaten banks and foreign entrepreneurs, or to protect party militants employed by the party in government.
The government even uses the low credibility of the unions as an argument to attract foreign investors to the country. It doesn’t work to regulate the relations between employers and employees, but only sets the conditions of minimum and maximum wages, which, moreover, are unclear and imprecise. These conditions are often used to create hidden taxes, to propagate progress toward European standards, or the creation of parasitical forms of employment.
The main problems with employment in the country are black labor, delays in wage payments, non-payment of social insurance, exploitation for a minimum wage, and so on.
The situation isn’t any different in companies that are (partially) owned by the state. They don’t pay their employees for months on end, while they don’t worry about taking on enormous debts from third parties, such as in the case or ARMO.
The recently approved bankruptcy law now even classifies the payment of the employees as less important than outstanding debt to banks. So when a company goes bankrupt, it first will have to liquidate its debts toward the banks and only when some money is left, it will pay the outstanding wages to the employees.
This seems so normal that no one feels insulted and protests. Neither the tired and scared worker, nor the intellectuals from the left, who are known to support gender equality issues or the liberalization of the economy.
Maybe a few of them would defend the position that the state’s role in the economy ought to be minimal, but when we are talking about labor rights, we are not talking about the economy, but rather about the people’s dignity and social stability and responsibility.
This should being with the implementation of the right to be paid on time, the payment of social insurance, and the registration of labor contracts.
Albanian society cannot find an equilibrium without determining and implementing as soon as possible some minimal conditions in the service of those citizens who are the least protected.
