Oilman status, Gjiknuri: ARMO employees’ applications is the priority

Mr. Gjiknuri had the pleasure to communicate with the oil industry employees, stating as following:

We have had the opportunity to communicate with many of you in my office constantly, and many of these problems have had the opportunity to deal with it in a very transparent and goodwill manner to find a viable solution to a difficult problem. Even though it was not created by this government, we have to accept it and you know, a privatization gone bad, badly done, and many of the questions you raise here are related to who is the genesis of this privatization. Starting with a problem you end up in, substations, pumps and firefighters, all were part of the privatization package, which normally should not be so because the electrical substation serves the whole city, just like the water pumps serve the municipality there. Unfortunately, these are also assets that were privatized. However, this is a very complex problem begun by a privatization since the current government of Albania came into power in 2013, this company had gone bankrupt. Our efforts have been within a legal space to enable anyone who undertook to invest in this refinery, to have the opportunity to supply oil but to have a normal working environment. As for the oil cycle we have given this government program and the fact that we have always paid attention, it was the intention that crude oil instead of walking, practically only the figures that will give you for 2017, 450 thousand tons oil, so nearly 50% of the oil produced in Albania is processed domestically. Even the oil that has been available Albpetrol has always been in the domestic market for processing, and I believe you know it. Unfortunately, the plant is not managed properly, but management is private, and you must understand that even the state in a market economy has its limits. It is another issue that a state-owned oil processing company would need, but the state made a choice when it privatized this company.

As for some of the problems I want to tell you are most immediate and how I have seen your solution and I am very directly addressing you today. Firstly, there is the right to have the status, and no later than a few days ago, representatives of the union together with other friends, have been in the Ministry and we have said: Prepare the documentation, we have tasked the trade union representatives, we are ready to make the last step of a decision, which I just spoke with the Minister of Finance to address, as I say publicly here, you will be the first group to be treated with precision and speed. Get the files there and automatically all those who have the status. and there are many people who deserve will be treated quickly. This solves another problem as well, and you know very well that, when the plant does not work, so it has gone bankrupt or people get unemployed, they benefit from status those elements that give them status. So, these are the first three salaries that provide for the status, up to 3% do not disappoint, and the rest as stipulated by the legislation in force on the status. In the wake of the meeting we have done in the Ministry, I expect you to accelerate the last part. I am saying publicly once again and you are not prolonging the first thing that the commission will handle quickly, with precedence. Hence, the status issue gets a solution, it’s just a matter of communication, uploading some people, we’re available, I’m ready to make everything available to you, and that’s right for you to meet the law.

On the other hand, under such difficult conditions will start building a substation there and the transmission system operator will start by making a new booster substation because even the situation that is the substation has become a danger.

Secondly, for the problems you have had, fire safety payments, I myself have also made my interventions on salaries so that these people are paid because it is the security problem of the facility and I believe and you know that since the communication we have after that, we have realized that the minimum staff is paid after the asset has to be protected because it is not just the asset issue, but it is human life and the whole country is endangered if it is not carefully looked after.

We are ready, and we are working daily, please wait for this week to continue with the first files, there are very few documents, 3-4 documents, and in case you need other documents from us, we are willing to make people available to prepare them so that people see that we are serious about status issue.