"There are few whose salary covers their monthly expenses", protest march for Labor Day

A protest march has been announced for Thursday, May 1st, starting at 12:00 PM, at "Skënderbeu" Square in Pristina.

The announcement states that this protest is called on Workers' Day by the Feminist Collective, the "Përpejka" Social Center, by independent activists in coordination with workers' unions.

"On May 1st, we call on workers, the unemployed, care workers, pensioners, students to organize and mark Labor Day in a march against the multiple economic and social injustices that are making our lives impossible every day," the announcement states.

The statement states that the situation for workers in Kosovo is becoming increasingly difficult.

"There are few whose salary covers their monthly expenses, while many of us are paid below the minimum wage, cannot take annual leave, and work more than 40 hours a week."

For women workers who do double duty at home and in the marketplace, the paid work relationship remains hostile, harassing, and violent. For racialized groups, such as Roma, people with disabilities, and queer people, the marketplace is even more oppressive.

For the vast majority, paid work remains an insecure space, where some even die. The year 2025 marks a record with a total of 9 deaths so far, without minimum safety conditions and with inhumane treatment. And when they organize to demand the rights they are entitled to under the Labor Law, they are punished sometimes by being fired from their jobs and sometimes by making their working conditions more difficult. We remember the striking women of the Assembly who were punished by being fired precisely because of their strike," the announcement says, among other things.

"This May 1st, we announce that we can only confront these oppressions by organizing politically, by standing in solidarity with workers and vulnerable social categories, and by being vocal in our revolt."

Together we denounce the system that punished the technical workers of the Assembly of Kosovo for their strike, that impoverishes us more and more every day and steals our work, our lives and our dignity to enrich the owners. Insisting on the need for cross-sectoral organization of workers with or without pay, the self-employed, the unemployed, pensioners and students, we call for May 1 to be a day of exchange, with revolt, hope and determination to defend our dignity, our lives and to make justice and equality the principle of our social organization.

Join us on May 1st, at 12:00 at "Skënderbeg" Square, it continues. /Telegraph/