Pensioners gathered again in front of the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday morning to demand dignity in the treatment of this layer of society.
A living wage, pensions to enable them to afford living as well as miner status for many of them who had worked in the mines were some of their repeated demands in the square.
Pensioners asked for the support of all citizens, young and old, to join their demands.
"Albanian pensioners are the poorest class in society"- said Qani Shino, one of the pensioners present at the protest.
They stated that they are not looking for a bonus, but dignified pensions, while they declared that they continue to be supported by their children, becoming an economic burden for them.
The end-of-year bonus according to pensioners is a fraud, denying you work for years. Supported by the Joint Movement, the pensioners said they are convinced that they will continue to protest until their demands are met.
They considered the indexation to be the duty of the government, at a time when basket prices have increased.
For almost a month, the government has organized public meetings to discuss with pensioners, but has not accepted dialogue with the group "Joint Pensioners" of the movement.
In its statements, the government justified itself with the difficulties of increasing pensions without first reforming the social contribution scheme.
There are 791 thousand pensioners in Albania, of which 92% benefit from pensions from the social insurance scheme. The rest are covered by special schemes, such as for ex-servicemen, miners and oil workers.
According to the government's 4.1% indexation, pensions in the city increased by about 752 Lek, while in the countryside by 453 Lek.
On average, pensions in Albania range from 15,000-19,000 ALL, figures that do not even come close to the vital minimum of 20,000 ALL per month.
Citizens.al data, collected from an online survey, show that 87.5% of pensioners cannot make ends meet and spend most of their money on medicine. Most indicated that they are helped by children.
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Erisa Kryeziu has completed higher studies in Journalism and Communication and Master of Science in Public Relations at the University of Tirana. She has been a journalist and project manager at Citizens.al for five years, where she reports on social issues and human rights, especially on issues of rights at work, in education, gender equality, marginalized groups, people with disabilities such as and for environmental issues. At the same time, she works as a project coordinator with a focus on youth and media education. User of new reporting techniques such as "Mobile Journalism" and citizen engagement tools in reporting (ECR-Engage Citizens Journalism).
