The Union of Independent Trade Unions of Kosovo (BSPK) today marked 36 years since the September 3, 1990 General Strike, describing it as one of the defining moments of peaceful resistance in the country.

In a press release, the head of the trade union, Atdhe Hykolli, honored the memory of the workers and all citizens who, during those difficult times, mobilized to defend labor rights, human dignity, and political and national aspirations.

According to the BSPK, the action on September 3 was not simply a work stoppage. It was seen as a coordinated response to the discrimination carried out by the Serbian regime, the mass dismissal of Albanians from their jobs, the removal of autonomy, and the assault on Kosovo’s institutions.

Workers, students, artisans, and residents from across Kosovo joined the union’s call, turning the one-day strike into a mass demonstration of unarmed resistance.

The BSPK emphasizes that workers during that period showed that the workplace is not only a source of livelihood, but also a symbol of dignity, collective responsibility, and freedom.

“In form, the General Strike was silent, but its substance and resonance were powerful,” the statement said.

The trade union regards September 3, 1990, as a key date in the history of Kosovo’s trade union, political, and social movement.

However, the BSPK also expressed concern about the current situation of workers, citing wage levels, the rising cost of living, workplace safety, and delays in social dialogue.

Commemorating September 3, chairman Atdhe Hykolli addressed the Government, the social partner, calling for the conditions to be created without delay to negotiate and sign the General Collective Agreement, and for the BSPK’s voice to be heard as the legitimate representative of the country’s workers.

The BSPK stresses that commemorating this day must be transformed into a commitment to safeguarding workers’ rights.

“Glory to the resistance of Kosovo’s workers! Honor to the September 3, 1990 General Strike!” the statement concluded.

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The strike by technical workers at Pristina’s primary and secondary schools, which began on September 1, will continue until all financial obligations to them have been settled. Jusuf Azemi, head of the Private Sector Workers’ Union, said this at a news conference.

The strike was prompted by the failure to pay workers at upper secondary schools for July and August. Meanwhile, workers at primary schools have still not received their August salaries or payment for 11 days of work in July.

Azemi said that a meeting had been held on the issue with Arianit Elshani, director of the Education Directorate of the Municipality of Pristina, and municipal official Arben Gashi. According to him, the union had expected the meeting to produce a solution to end the deadlock.

He said that, for August, there had been a possibility of paying the workers 391 euros, or 425 euros gross. The justification given was that the minimum wage had not been amended and that, when the contracts were signed, the contractors had set the amount at 425 euros.

According to Azemi, the Education Directorate had said it needed to allocate and transfer these funds. However, the union rejected the offer on the grounds that it did not represent the full salary stipulated in the contract and conflicted with the minimum wage under the law in force.

Based on their contracts and the minimum wage, these workers’ salary is 500 euros gross.

The union leader said that the Municipality did not need to transfer a single cent unless it settled all its obligations to the workers. He explained that any money deposited into their accounts would be withdrawn, but this would not solve the problem, and the strike would end only after the Municipality of Pristina fulfilled all its obligations to them.

Azemi criticized municipal officials for failing to address the problem, despite the union having, according to him, warned for more than a month that the situation could end in a deadlock. He attributed the situation to a lack of resources and a failure to acknowledge reality.

He said that some officials of the Municipality of Pristina had claimed they were unaware that the workers were on strike. Azemi described it as serious that salaries had been missing for 45 days, while the officials responsible for handling workers’ payments were unaware of the strike.

Seeking understanding from citizens and students, Azemi said that the institutions were responsible for the situation because, according to him, they had failed to fulfill their obligations to the workers.

For now, the union intends to continue only with the strike and is not planning more radical action. However, Azemi did not rule out using such measures if the financial obligations are not met, although he expressed confidence that it would not be necessary to go that far.

He said that the institutions had no choice but to act, because workers could not endanger children’s health by sending them to school sick because of people who were well paid to perform their duties.

KosovaPress requested a response from the Education Directorate of the Municipality of Pristina on the issue, but had not received one by the time the article was published.

The post Technical Workers Remain on Strike, Azemi: We Rejected the Municipality’s Offer of a Gross Salary of 450 Euros appeared first on Albeu.com.

The Kakavija border crossing point will face traffic interruptions on Monday, July 27, 2026, as a result of a strike organized by workers on the Greek side.

The announcement relayed by Greek customs authorities informs that customs services and vehicle crossing in both directions will be blocked between 07:00 and 11:00, according to Albanian time.

During these four hours, no vehicle will be able to enter or exit, due to the complete suspension of activity on the Greek side.

Albanian Customs appeals to all travelers and economic operators planning to move towards Greece not to use this crossing point during the 07:00–11:00 time slot on Monday.

To avoid queues and long delays, it is advised to schedule movements outside this time window.

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic recently stated that Milan Radoicic, who has admitted responsibility for the armed attack on the Kosovo Police in Banjska, Zvecan, in September 2023 and for whom Interpol has issued a red notice, is not being investigated for any specific criminal offense. According to Vucic, the case against him is related to the “Kosovo issue” and not to actual crimes.

This statement once again brings Milan Radoicic into the center of international political and legal debate, as questions grow over how his case is being handled and over responsibility for the Banjska attack. At the same time, this situation deepens doubts about Serbia’s relationship with justice mechanisms and the possibility of Radoicic facing justice.

Speaking to “Bota sot” about this issue, Serbian lawyer Cedomir Stojkovic said that Radoicic, in cooperation with Serbia’s secret services, organized an attack on Kosovo with the aim of creating a scenario similar to “Donbas.”

He stressed that from the very beginning it had been clear that Vucic would not act to arrest Radoicic.

“Immediately after Milan Radoicic, together with Serbia’s secret services, organized a terrorist attack in Kosovo with the aim of creating a ‘Donbas’ scenario based on Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, I publicly announced that the criminal proceedings against him in Serbia were merely a Roshomoniyad and a performance for the international community. From the very beginning it was clear that Vucic would not arrest Radoicic, because Vucic employed Radoicic to carry out the attack in Banjska,” he said.

Stojkovic also said that after the plan was exposed and the “Donbas” scenario in Kosovo failed, Vucic began efforts to create public distance from Radoicic before the international community. According to him, the investigation in Belgrade was opened within this framework as well, which he describes as staged and built to produce a political narrative.

According to the Serbian lawyer, these moves were not undertaken to punish Radoicic, but to manage the government’s image and avoid responsibility.

“When the plan was uncovered and the ‘Donbas’ scenario in Kosovo was prevented by the activity of Kosovo’s security services, Vucic then tried to wash himself clean of Radoicic before the public of the international community. This is why he ordered the prosecution office in Belgrade, which he controls, to launch a fictitious investigation against Radoicic, with only one goal: to turn it into a circus performance for naive politicians in the West. To naive politicians in the West, Vucic claimed: ‘I have nothing at all to do with Banjska, nor with Radoicic. Look, the prosecution office in Belgrade is conducting proceedings against Radoicic,’ but this was a lie. In fact, it is true that Vucic organized Banjska through Radoicic, and then, in order to hide his ties to him, ordered proceedings to be launched against him, but in such a way that Radoicic would never be arrested and that a ruling against him would never be issued in Serbia. This is why the proceedings against Radoicic in Serbia have been false from the beginning, because they are not aimed at convicting him, but at saving Vucic in the international community. I stated this in 2023, and now, three years later, you can see how right I was. Radoicic is still a free man, as I claimed he would be, and he will remain so as long as Vucic is in power, because he also controls the court and the prosecution. There is no independent judiciary in Serbia,” the Serbian lawyer elaborated.

He further underlined that, in his assessment, almost three years after the event in Banjska, President Vucic is behaving increasingly more relaxed about this issue because it is fading both in public opinion and internationally.

Stojkovic stressed that this, in his view, has pushed Vucic to say that Radoicic committed no crime, even though there were victims from that event. He added that the incident, according to him, was part of a broader scenario prepared for actions of a military nature.

“Now that almost three years have passed since then, Vucic feels calmer about Banjska because he notices that Banjska is being forgotten more and more, and for that reason he is now increasingly saying that Radoicic committed no crime even though people died because of the terrorist attack in Banjska. Although it is wrong to call that attack a ‘terrorist attack,’ it was preparation for the military invasion of Kosovo through Milan Radoicic’s paramilitary group, a group organized by the Serbian secret service commanded by Vucic. That invasion was planned according to Putin’s model in Donbas in 2014 and 2022.

This is why it is now more important than ever for the international community to be reminded of this, because Aleksandar Vucic’s goals are always the same, only the international circumstances are different now. His goal is the same. And if Milan Radoicic remains free, that means it is possible to send paramilitary attacks into Kosovo without punishment and without fear, because the perpetrators are never arrested. And if Serbia thinks this way, that only means the same thing will be tried again,” Cedomir Stojkovic concluded for “Bota sot”.

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