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Albanian trade unions seek increase of minimal wage

Xinhua, February 18, 2017 Adjust font size:

The trade unions in Albania requested Friday the Albanian government and namely the Ministry of Finance to consider their request and raise the minimum wage.

For this, Albania's National Council of Labor held a meeting with groups of interests to discuss the Labor Unions proposal and the arguments of the business community.

Currently, the minimum wage in Albania stands at the level of 22,000 leks (172 U.S. dollars).

The union has requested the authorities to increase it by 4,000 leks, taking the minim wage to 26,000 leks.

But, such proposal is not welcomed by the businesses who considered it too high and detrimental to their business activity.

In this regard, the business representatives told reporters after the meeting that the increase could not be more than 1,000-2,000 leks.

On the other hand, government representatives presented the option of a 5-percent increase, which amounted to 1,100 leks.

The businesses operating in the clothes and manufacturing industry are the ones that have strongly objected an immediate and high growth of minimum wage.

They claim that such growth would artificially increase prices and bring a negative impact on the country's economy. Endit