VZCZCXRO9257
PP RUEHKW RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTI #1208/01 3311605
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 271605Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5113
INFO RUCNEEC/EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES COLLECTIVE
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3346
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2225

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TIRANA 001208 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE (EKOTHIEMER AND CRIEHL) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ELAB ECON AL
SUBJECT: TRADE UNION POWER STRUGGLE INTERRUPTS WORK OF THE 
NATIONAL LABOR COUNCIL 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY. With dwindling membership and waning 
societal influence, the Albanian trade union organization 
that helped bring down the communist regime has been further 
weakened by an internal power struggle.  This struggle has 
pitted Gezim Kalaja, long-time trade union confederation 
president, against Gezim Qato, a challenger who, until 
recently, enjoyed the tacit support of the government. 
Speculation has been rife that at the heart of the issue was 
control over considerable union property assets.  The 
government used this conflict as a pretext for not convening 
the National Labor Council (NLC).  Critics charged that 
failure to convene the NLC effectively silenced the voice of 
labor during a period when the government introduced several 
pieces of legislation with a direct impact on workers. 
After stalling the work of the NLC for almost a year, on 
September 28, the government abruptly reversed course and 
convened the NLC, with Kalaja as the trade union 
representative.  END SUMMARY. 
 
---------- 
Background 
---------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Albanian Union of Independent Trade Unions 
(known as the BSPSH) is a confederation of ten independent 
trade unions and is one of two umbrella organizations created 
out of the former Albanian Union of Professionals (known as 
the BPSH), the single workers, union that was an arm of the 
former communist party.  The other successor trade union is 
the Confederation of Albanian Trade Unions (known as the 
KSSH). 
 
¶3. (SBU) During the communist period, the BPSH owned and 
operated resorts and &workers, camps8 throughout Albania. 
Most of these properties were located along the coast or in 
other prime vacation spots.  In 1992, then-President Sali 
Berisha issued a decree granting control of all property of 
the BPSH to the newly formed successor unions for a period of 
20 years.  According to Kosta Barjaba, Chief of Cabinet at 
the Ministry of Labor, before the pyramid crisis of 1997, 
many of the assets of the constituent unions were 
&privatized8 by unscrupulous union leaders who pocketed the 
proceeds.  Other properties have been taken away from the 
unions by the courts and returned to previous owners. 
Nevertheless, the unions still control considerable assets, 
including beachfront properties all along the Albanian coast, 
estimated to be worth tens of millions of Euros. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The current power struggle in the BSPSH is between 
Gezim Kalaja, head of the miners, union and, since 2001, 
BSPSH President, and Gezim Qato, long-time head of the 
transportation workers, union and pretender to the BSPSH 
leadership position. With once as many as 100,000 members, 
the miners were one of the most powerful constituents of the 
BPSH. As their leader, Kalaja helped organize the civil 
society protests that precipitated the collapse of the 
communist government in 1991. According to Barjaba, following 
the collapse of communism, the former communist trade union 
split along political lines. The KSSH aligned with the 
Socialist Party (SP) while the BSPSH aligned with the 
Democratic Party (DP). Both confederations set up parallel 
structures, having similar constituent trade unions (i.e., 
health, education, miners, transportation, etc.). 
 
---------------------------------------- 
STRUGGLE FOR THE LEADERSHIP OF THE BSPSH 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The struggle between Kalaja and Qato for leadership 
of the BSPSH began in December 2004 when Qato convened an 
extraordinary congress of the BSPSH.  According to Qato, such 
a meeting, called outside of the regularly scheduled 
congress, may be convened by a majority of leaders of the 
unions without the authorization of the president.  At this 
extraordinary congress, eight of ten leaders of the 
constituent unions elected Qato as the new president of the 
BSPSH with a four-year mandate.  Only the leaders of the 
education and health unions remained loyal to Kalaja. 
 
¶6. (SBU) In an attempt to forestall Kalaja from convening the 
regularly scheduled congress in December 2005, Qato submitted 
documents to the Tirana District Court requesting that he be 
recognized as the legitimate head of the BSPSH.  In October 
2005, the court agreed with Qato and granted this 
recognition.  Nevertheless, Kalaja convened the regularly 
scheduled congress of the BSPSH in December 2005 that 
 
TIRANA 00001208  002 OF 003 
 
 
included observers from the International Confederation of 
Free Trade Unions (ICFTU).  During this congress, Kalaja was 
re-elected president of the BSPSH and the ICFTU certified the 
election results. 
 
¶7. (SBU) On July 4, the Tirana District Court, ruling on a 
countersuit filed by Kalaja challenging the legitimacy of the 
December 2004 extraordinary congress, issued a temporary stay 
suspending the first decision of the lower court and all of 
the decisions taken by the extraordinary congress, including 
the election of Qato as the leader of the BSPSHQ Kalaja said 
the final decision of the court would be handed down in 
December. 
 
¶8. On July 13, a visiting delegation from the Brussels-based 
ICFTU told Poloff that the extraordinary congress convened by 
Qato was illegitimate because, as per the internal rules of 
the BSPSH, the ICFTU was not notified about the congress in 
advance, no international observers were present, and only 
the constituent union leaders participated (i.e., the rank 
and file members were not included).  While in Albania, the 
delegation also had meetings with the President, Prime 
Minister, and the Minister of Labor during which they 
conveyed the same message. They informed Poloff that they 
drove home the point that labor policy, including the 
functioning of trade unions, was among the factors considered 
for membership in the European Union. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
WORK OF THE NATIONAL LABOR COUNCIL STALLED 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (SBU) Under Albanian law, the Ministry of Labor must 
convene the National Labor Council (NLC) every three months. 
The NLC must then invite ten representatives of the workers 
(i.e., unions), ten representatives of employers, and seven 
representatives of the government.  After an initial meeting 
shortly after the Berisha government took office in September 
2005, the NLC did not convene again until September 28, 2006. 
 According to Kol Nikollaj, President of the KSSH, under 
Albanian law the government must first consult with the NLC 
before proposing any legislation that would impact workers. 
Since taking the reins of power, the Berisha government has 
passed legislation for pension reform, social security 
administration, and unemployment compensation, all without 
convening the NLC. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Barjaba told us that the NLC had not been convened 
for almost a year, pending the outcome of the Kalaja-Qato 
legal dispute.  Both Nikollaj and Kalaja, as well as media 
commentators, were vocal in their view that the government 
was exploiting the internal power struggle as a pretext for 
not convening the NLC. Accordingly, the government was 
effectively denying the trade unions a voice in legislation 
affecting workers. 
 
¶11. (SBU) In mid-September, the government changed course and 
convened a meeting of the NLC to which Kalaja was invited to 
represent the BSPSH. Kalaja told Poloff that over the past 
month the government position has changed 180 degrees. Now, 
not only was he invited to represent the BSPSH on the NLC, 
but he was also elected deputy chair of the NLC, something 
that would have been impossible without the support of the 
government. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
BEHIND THE SCENES MACHINATIONS AND OTHER MOTIVES 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶12. (SBU) According to Kalaja, Berisha personally 
orchestrated the move to have him ousted from the leadership 
of the BSPSH in retaliation for his refusal to encourage his 
union members to participate in protests Berisha organized in 
2003, when he was the leader of the opposition.  It was 
shortly after this that Qato first emerged as a challenger to 
Kalaja for the leadership position.  Nikollaj said that Qato 
had close ties to the DP, as evidenced by the fact that 
during the 2005 parliamentary elections, Qato campaigned for 
Berisha. 
 
¶13. (SBU) For Qato, the motivation would appear to be 
financial. With high unemployment and dwindling membership, 
revenue from union-owned properties is the principal source 
of funding for the unions.  Both Kalaja and Qato have told 
the Embassy that at the heart of the conflict over the BSPSH 
leadership position was control over these properties (more 
 
TIRANA 00001208  003 OF 003 
 
 
specifically the revenue streams they generate).  Each 
accused the other of being motivated to hold the leadership 
position solely by the prospect of personal gain.  According 
to Barjaba, though changes in Albanian law now specifically 
prohibit union bosses from selling property, the government 
is virtually powerless to oversee union finances and thus can 
do little to prevent misuse of funds. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶15. (SBU) The government appears to be backing away from the 
efforts of one of its party militants to assume the 
leadership position of the BSPSH.  International community 
interest in this issue, including our own, served to remind 
the government that civil society actors, including the trade 
unions, contribute to the social dialogue and that their 
voice should be heard. END COMMENT 
RIES