06 10 2007 Tirana_ In a meeting with union representatives on Thursday Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha promised that his government would focus its attention on safety procedures in the mining industry.
The Prime Minister made this commitment in the wake of a series of accidents that have taken the lives of five miners in the last six months.
Berisha told miners' representatives that the government was working to solve what he described as an “inherited problem. He said it was a government priority to ensure standards of work safety in the mining industry.
Miners in the shanty town of Bulqiza in northern Albania went on strike again on Monday demanding safer working conditions, a 50-percent pay rise and proper employment contracts. More than 650 strikers rallied at the Bulqiza chromium mine, which is the largest in the country.
The five miners killed in the last six months were working at the Bulqiza mine. The mine is owned by DARFO, an Austrian-Russian consortium.
Following a series of previous protests by miners, the Albanian Ministry of Economy suspended DARFO’s license because of poor working conditions. However the strikers complain that nothing has changed since then.
Prime Minister Berisha told the miners on Thursday that his government would not reopen the mine until all safety procedural violations had been addressed; he said the fatal accidents would be investigated and those responsible would be brought to justice.
Chromium is Albanian`s largest mineral resource, and is one of the country's main exports.(Birn)
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