Troubles underground: Kosovo's Trepca miners strike for better onditions, 4 November 2023

The Trepca mines in Kosovo, a large complex that dates back to the Roman era, are currently at a standstill. The miners, some of whom are foregoing food, are on strike for better working conditions and timely payments of their salaries...

For the men who toil in the dangerous conditions at the mines - often working with worn and outdated machinery over 50 years old - the situation has become intolerable.

Eset Meha, a 62-year-old foreman with 38 years of experience at the Trepca mines, spends most of his days more than 700 meters underground..."Just getting in and out of the mine with this old equipment is a struggle, in addition to the hard work we do," Meha said.

"If a miner retires from Trepca healthy, he should thank God," he told RFE/RL deep underground, where he normally works but now is sitting idle due to the strike.

"Thanks to this work, I have problems breathing and sleeping," he added...

Another miner is 35-year-old Alban Ferati....with a salary of $850 a month, he is also frustrated.

"They don't pay us properly. In recent months, they have divided our salaries into two parts (instead of paying in full and on the designated day)," said the father of three.

"It often happens that I must ask for a loan from a colleague or family member at the end of the month to make ends meet," he said...

Ferati is also required to pay for the equipment he needs to perform his job, such as heavy steel-toed boots.

In addition to the financial hardships he faces with irregular pay, Ferati says he is also dealing with health issues from breathing in the heavy black smoke, which leaves him at times breathless and suffering from migraines...

Dissatisfied with the deteriorating working conditions and the perception that management is ignoring their pleas, Meha and Ferati, along with roughly 200 other colleagues, launched a strike...

According to the union that represents the men, some of the miners have also chosen to hold a hunger strike...Gani Osmani, representative of the Workers' Union of Trepca, says that the strikers are determined not to work until their demands are met. The wages of miners should be "much higher than those of employees in other sectors above the surface of the earth," Osmani said.

The miners' demands include the timely payment of salaries, the dismissal of current management, and a guarantee of better working conditions.

RFE/RL has contacted company officials for comment but has received no response...