Nikolic said that, step by step, with the help of the IMF and EMF, they want to build a different future for both their community and the workers. Hasan Abazi described the situation in Kosovo today. There is no economic activity. As for the metal sector, only 1,000 workers out of more than 12,000 came back to partial jobs. Factories have been destroyed or transformed into barracks for NATO forces.
Communications are still difficult, and there is a government vacuum.
Our union does not have much experience, as we were founded in 1990 in order to resist the apartheid policy of Belgrade. The main problem today is social legislation and job creation. Big political games are being played in Kosovo and Serbia, but all we want is democracy and jobs, and for that we are prepared to work together with the Serbian unions which are clearly against Milosevic. In an IMF-EMF conference in late April, all issues concerning the trade union role in the region will be discussed, says the IMF's Toni Ferigo. We will at the same time invite our Western affiliates to run solidarity projects there.