Azemi: From January we will demand a 600-euro minimum wage

The head of the Independent Union of the Private Sector of Kosovo, Jusuf Azemi, has said workers are demanding that the minimum wage be 600 euros starting January 1 of next year. He warned that institutions should brace for strikes if workers’ demands are not met.

“On the one hand we have to fight to raise this wage… on the other we have to fight what shouldn’t need fighting — that the minimum wage be implemented when it is a decision of the Government of Kosovo,” Azemi told EkonomiaOnline, as Klan Kosova reports.

He added that starting January 1, workers will demand better conditions and wages and will not settle for the 500-euro wages of the 2024 increase.

Azemi also spoke about the implementation of the minimum wage decision, saying government decisions must be respected and implemented: “Just imagine, in the Ministry of Labor itself until last month… the Government of Kosovo paid workers outside the law, below the minimum wage.”

He warned that either there will be strikes, or workers will change where they work, because workers’ labor is more in demand than ever before.