AlbChrome got out of Bulqiza. The explanation, injustice and death of the miners left, 19 January 2022

On 20th of December 2020 the news about the departure of AlbChrome company from the largest mine in Bulqiza was made official. Its shares were sold to the Turkish company Yildirim International Mining Investments B.V. AlbChrome is fleeing, but exploitation, injustice, and the deaths of miners during its administration remain.

In Bulqiza, AlbChrome company will be remembered mostly for four things:

Flagrant favoritism by the state

...Year after year AlbChrome has had favors in terms of reducing or removing taxes and royalties. Especially in recent years, the royalty has been removed altogether even with the justification of the pandemic. This has not been accompanied at all by the improvement of miners’ wages or conditions, rather it happened at a time when Albchrome had barbarically suppressed union organizations by the workers themselves.

Deaths and accidents at work

During the nine years of AlbChrome mining, nine miners have died. The last case was in May this year. The relatives of some of these workers have not even been given life compensation, or have been locked in court doors. Even the company shamelessly still denies the deaths of these workers, even though they are public cases.

The accidents have been countless, but AlbChrome has used every means to avoid being made public. In most cases, the workers were not even compensated for the accident, leaving it to the workers themselves. For the past three or four years, AlbChrome has also refused to accept health reports.

For at least two years, according to Labor Inspectorate reports, Albchrome has been the company with the highest number of accidents at work...

Barbaric exploitation of chromium reserves

...The increase in the use of chromium reserves was accompanied by the intensification of the use of miners, whose rates are constantly increasing, but with no payment. The salaries miners receive at AlbChrome do not differ much from the salaries they received in 2013. Not to mention the fact that old age at work, hardship, etc. are not paid, at a time when the risks to life are extraordinary, especially from the presence of methane gas in the mine.

Fierce fight against trade unionism

Despite this situation, the organization and raising of the voice of the miners have not been lacking in these years but the responses from AlbChrome and the state on its side have been harsh and illegal...

The puppet union of Kol Nikolla and Taf Kolec was on the side of the company, against the workers...

Today, after nine years, Albchrome owner Samir Mane is several times richer, leaving behind poorly paid, mutilated, and threatened miners, misused mineral resources, and a social ruin in Bulqiza. Its dizzying profits from Bulqiza chrome are invested outside Albania. Meanwhile, the new Turkish owners seem to be following the same path as their predecessor, making a pact with the servile and corrupt colleagues Kol Nikolla and Taf Koleci, the infamous Gëzim Kalaja and his pseudo-union...