Independent Syndicate of Energy of Kosovo (SPEK) meets with World Bank and U.S. government officials to discuss the effects of a new coal power plant project and the privatization of Kosovo’s electricity grid.
Izet Mustafa, head of the Independent Syndicate of Energy of Kosovo (SPEK), met with numerous World Bank and U.S. government officials to discuss the labor issues arising from ongoing energy projects within Kosovo on a visit to Washington, D.C. sponsored by the Kosovar Institute for Development Policy (INDEP). The World Bank, which has not adequately analyzed Kosovo’s labor market, is financing a new coal plant project in Kosovo while the electricity grid undergoes privatization, both of which may contribute to significant layoffs in the energy sector workforce.
Significant layoffs as a result of grid privatization and the new coal power project could impede the rights of labor to unionize, organize and bargain collectively. Mustafa called for the cancellation of the electricity grid privatization process and for costs related to job losses to be accounted for in the new coal plant project in meetings at the State Department, World Bank and Capitol Hill.
Mustafa spoke with Barbara Shailor, the special envoy of Secretary of State Clinton for labor, regarding the impacts of the energy projects on labor within Kosovo and how the United States government plans to account for and mitigate the negative impact upon labor. Mustafa also met with World Bank Executive Directors Ingrid Hoven, Ruud Treffers, Konstantin Huber, and Gino Alzetta. He requested that the Bank allocate a social fund for workers that will be affected by the decommissioning of the “Kosova A” power plant. Bank Management committed to identifying additional social costs with regard to labor in a new study.
The office of the Compliance Advisory Ombudsman (CAO) of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) is preparing to audit the IFC’s involvement in the grid privatization and discussed SPEK’s concerns with Mustafa. SPEK will have the opportunity to meet with the audit team again as a part of the CAO’s audit
process of the grid privatization.
In addition to these meetings, Mustafa visited with organizations including the International Confederation of Trade Unions (ICTU), Solidarity Center, Blue/Green Alliance, International Brotherhood of Energy Workers and Utility Workers Union of America, as well as three members of the United States Congress, including Congressman McDermott of Seattle, Washington. SPEK, which was established in 1990 as a response to Serbian government mistreatment of Albanian workers, represents the rights of about 4,000 workers in Kosovo’s energy sector.
Barbara Shailor, Special Envoy of Secretary of State Cliton with
Izet Mustafa of the Independent Syndicate of Energy of Kosovo (SPEK)