For a week, around 70 employees of the copper mine in Spaç, Mirdita, have been boycotting work and are protesting working conditions.
The miners say they are on a general strike according to all the rules, notifying the company and institutions, while warning that they will go on a hunger strike if their demands are not met.
They have presented the Turkish concession company "Tete Albania Tunnel & Mining", which manages the mine in Spaç, with a list of demands that includes a 15-20% salary increase and recognition of the new union they created in August 2025.
According to the miners, wages have remained unchanged for years, while the price of copper on international markets has tripled, increasing the company's profits. But the starting point of the protest seems to have been the fact that the company has not recognized their union and has not approved a new collective agreement.
Albert Bushpreni is a miner who was recently fired after almost three years of working at this mine. According to the workers, his dismissal is due to organizing in the union.
"We noticed that workers often said, 'Don't ask us to do more, that's all they give us, we don't have a union to protect us.' From the workers' movement, the idea of organizing into a union that is recognized by law was born.", Bushpreni said to Citizens.al.
On August 16, 2025, the Spaç Mine Miners' Union (SMMS) took shape, under the umbrella of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania.
According to Albert Bushpren, the Turkish company was officially notified and asked for a meeting in order to get acquainted with the union representation and sign a collective agreement. But he says that the notifications "fell on deaf ears."
"They didn't respond, they exceeded all deadlines, thinking they could intimidate workers one by one and then finally, through the mine manager who is our colleague, they sent us word as the union leader to go to a meeting", Bushpreni said.
At the organized meeting, according to miner Bushpreni, company representatives stated that this initiative to create the union was considered "break in faith", even though the right to organize in a union is a legal right.
On October 7, through an envelope, the miner Bushpreni was informed that he had been dismissed from work. The pretext for his dismissal, according to him, was an incident, causing a scratch on a worker, for whom, as shift supervisor, he had followed the procedures, sending him to the hospital. However, according to him, he had not filled out the form according to the regulations.
"There are special forms here that are for accidents involving vehicles or people. I notified the person in charge and told him that I don't have a form to fill out. He said we'll fix it tomorrow. The next day he took us to a meeting, but the castiles didn't offer me the form to fill out within 24 hours.", Bushpreni explained.
According to him, his dismissal from work was simply an indication for organizing protests, as the problems are what really pushed the miners to organize the protest.
"We have also worked in non-normal conditions. If a fan is turned off due to power failure, smoke and gases are created there. There have been cases where another one has been damaged, and not in the line of duty, the contract stipulates that the employee should not work outside of what was contracted.", says Albert.
Among other things, wages remain another concern for miners.
"As a shift manager, I get 4,850 old lek per day. Imagine the others who are below me. With all due respect to the sweeper, even a municipal sweeper gets that much lek. An underground worker works for 30 old lek per day. You don't get a worker to make a bucket of mortar, not even in a mine."Bushpreni emphasized to Citizens.al.
He stated that the company is aware of the situation, but no action has been taken beyond complaints.
"I know that I have all the conditions, they say, but we will fulfill them. Today, tomorrow, a person's life is given only once."
According to the Confederation of Trade Unions of Albania, all legal measures have been taken to guarantee the normal development of the protest in accordance with the legislation in force.
The Ministry of Economy and Innovation, the State Labor Inspectorate, the Police Commissariat, local government and AKSEM have been notified.
According to the miners, there was a mediation meeting on Friday by the Regional Office of Mediation and Reconciliation, but nothing concrete was achieved to resolve the situation.
The miners' protest escalated on Monday into clashes with the police, with two of them subsequently escorted to the police station.
"Tete Albania Tunnel & Mining Sh.a" is a Turkish company operating in the mining industry, registered in 2019, with Turkish citizen Eyup Batal as administrator.
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).
