Ole Elfenkaemper: Death Or Better Days
Albanian miners' hunger strike
On October 8th, after three months of strike and long negotiations, the miners went back to work having agreed a deal with the management which included a wage increase. Just twelve days later, 1600m underground a massive explosion took place and one miner died and two out of seven wounded were fighting for their lives.
After the incident, the Union for Inspection and Rescue of Mines closed the mine until the company fulfills the security requirements for the ‘galleries.’ With the mine closed and the owners having not paid the workers during the months of the strike, the lives of the miners have become more and more difficult. They are forced to risk their lives working in other, sometimes abandoned, mines. As a result of working in unsafe conditions another deadly accident took place on November 11th in the chrome mining area in Bulqiza, bringing the total to 15 deaths in the last three years. Prosecutors are still investigating. – Ole Elfenkaemper
