Author: Bejli Çaušaj
Lindita Rama leaves every morning for the chrome warehouses in Bulqiza with a pickaxe in her hand and her invalid husband by her side. The 53-year-old woman says that she has been wandering for 13 years in search of "black gold" - a dangerous and often unregistered job, but which provides her family with a minimum income of nine thousand lek per month.
"It is very hard work, my back hurts, but I have no other way. I collect 50 kilograms of chrome (per day) and sell it for 300 Lek at the end of the day," says Rama, as he stands in the backyard of the ground floor house, after finishing a long day of work on the piles of chrome.
Like dozens of other women in the city of Bulqiza, Lindita Rama linked her life to chrome due to the lack of opportunities and difficult economic conditions. With her disabled husband and elderly mother-in-law at home, the 53-year-old says she had 'nowhere else to crash'.
Although the Bulqiza mine is mostly known as 'a place for men', dozens of women have been working there for years in the separation and selection of chrome; a difficult and poorly paid job, which often takes place in violation of the Labor Code.
According to occupational safety experts, women in Bulqiza mines often face exploitation and only a small percentage of them are insured.
"More than work, it is camouflaged exploitation, which is related to the extreme economic need that women and their families have," says Edison Hoxha from the Center for Labor Relations and Social Dialogue (CLRD).
"Contracts are provisional, temporary when there may be a large flow of work or after an accident, where attention and control is greater," added Hoxha.
"Men's work"
The Bulqiza mine is the main source of income for the city's poor families and one of the main sources of accidents at work in the country. Currently, there are over 100 companies licensed to exploit the chrome reserves in the Bulqiza area, whose exports together reach around 100 million euros per year.
Feruzane Kurti, 53 years old and mother of three children, has worked for years 'in the dark' for chrome selection in the infamous area D of the Bulqiza mine. Insured only two years ago, Kurti hopes that when the time comes, she will not be without a pension altogether.
"It is men's work, but this is the only option we have", says Kurti, after leaving the bucket and cart for a few minutes and sitting with her colleagues for a few minutes of rest.
"For many years I have worked without insurance. I was working in the dark. We worked all day, we had to catch the rate. At the end, the chrome was weighed and we got the money. I didn't think that one day the day of retirement would come," she added, explaining that she was happy about the fact that she was able to send money home to feed the little ones.
Feruzane Kurti also remembers that for years, the work was not only black, but also dangerous.
"We had a lot of difficulties. We were working in warehouses and there was a lot of danger, because it could collapse and sink down. Today it is somewhat easier, because the farmer lays it down and after dividing it, we put it in buckets and transport it in carts.", She added.
Other women remember the inhumane work to meet the norm in exchange for small and negligible wages.
"I don't remember when I started this job. So many years have passed. My daughter came with me, but today I am happy that she has already married and emigrated to Italy. My soul ached, when she rolled in the stogies", says Lindita, who is standing in front of Feruzane, as they recount the many difficulties of life.
"We work at a rate of 650 kg of chrome per day. I have been collecting up to 30 tons for months, but we are paid very little", says Vera Ndergjoni, mother of six children.
Ndergjoni is on the verge of retirement and says he is looking forward to putting down his tools and leaving the warehouses. However, only a small number of women who work in the mine have this opportunity.
One of them, Zamira Xheka, left the mine after years of hard and insecure work. The mother of two children has found a job in a bar in the new city and does not even think of returning to the mine again.
"The work was hard. I was working uninsured and with a low salary, so I decided to leave", says Xheka in her new workplace.
"We were insured for a few months, when there was an accident in the mine. My life was a horror. This is the truth", She added.
"Exploitation and discrimination"
Activists of women's rights and safety at work find a number of problems among the stories told by the women of chrome in Buqliza.
Mirela Arqimandriti, executive director of the Gender Alliance for Development Center based in Tirana, says that in addition to exploitation, they also face discrimination.
"Despite the fact that the institutional and legal framework is complete, employees are still very afraid to report cases of discrimination in the workplace", said Arqimandriti, while adding that the cases when awareness is raised to follow the cases in court are rare.
Lawyer Enida Bozheku says that the laws are good, but they are not implemented. Admitting that there is exploitation and discrimination in the workplace based on gender, she says that women prefer to remain silent and leave the workplace, but do not go to the courts. "Most women are uninformed about their rights, an issue that mostly belongs to civil society", she adds.
Edison Hoxha from the Center for Labor Relations and Social Dialogue emphasizes the problem of these women with working conditions.
"The extraction of minerals, even though it is carried out on the surface, is done in the absence of proper protective equipment, without suitable work clothes, to minimize the risks from work, without risk assessment, from which all the measures that the employer must take are concretized. for the safety and health protection of its employees". said Hoxha.
He emphasizes that such jobs "they barely give a person a living, but in the meantime they take away all the dignity of being alive".
