Trade Unions and CHILD LABOUR IN ALBANIA

FSASH/ SPASH (Education Trade Unions in Albania) Trade Unions andCHILD LABOUR IN ALBANIA

EDUCATION TU-s BACKGROUND • TUFESA / ITUAE -the largest and the most important TU-s in the education sector in Albania. • MEMBERSHIP: 32,000 members, some 70 % of teachers and other employees in the education and sciences sectors. • AFFILIATION: KSSH, BSPSH, EI, and ETUCE • ACTIVITIES: Two phases: - 1991 - 1999: members’ protection, - 2000 onward: expansion of the scope (education reform, strategy and quality of education, child labour elimination.)

Child labour Background in Albania Child labour isa problem in Albania. • About 40,000 working children. Main sectors: - Street working, around 8 000, - Collecting garbage, 4 000 -5 000 - Cloths and shoes industry, 3 000-4 000 - Farming: between 15 000 and 16 000 • 70 % of working children from those who have dropped out from the school, compared to 30% of children who work and allegedly continue to attend the school. • Drop-out in 2011-2012: Around 6 000 pupils, out of which 45 percent of all of them are in the main cities. • Reasons: -Economic conditions, family situations, educational system, parents’ mentality …

Starting activitiesITUC, EI, ILO-IPEC campaigns • ITUC, EI programs (2000-2001) • ILO-IPEC collaboration (2001-onwards) • IPEC- Action Programme in 2003: child labour and trade unions (70 trade unionists trained in Tirana, Vlora and Pogradec). • October 2004: - ITUC - Survey on ChL in Albania, S. Grumiau - Conference on “TU against child labour in Albania” (ICFTU –KSSH, BSPSH, TUFESA – ILO IPEC). • Adoption of Special Resolutions in the Congresses of FSASH and KSSH in November 2004. • IPEC- Action Program in 2005: Publication “Trade Unions and Child Labour”, trainings …. • Regional Conference in October 2006, supported by FNV/AOb and ILO-IPEC in Tirana, • Special activities in the framework of GAW, • EI-NOT child labour monitoring activities: 2007 - 120 teachers engaged in working groups and activities - 130 pupils from 6 schools of 3 districts, subject - (60 girls in Tirana suburbs, 30 Roma pupils in Elbasan, - 30 pupils from Macedonian minority, Korca - Activities with pupils: 18 turned back in school, 32 out of risk to drop out of school, 24 improvements in school performance • EI-IPEC- WDACL activities- 2006 and 2012, including Joint Agreement

Collaboration with FNV/AObActivities and Results, 2002 -2012 • Being focused in 6 districts: Tirana, Fieri, Elbasan Shkodra, Korca, Durresi • Prevention activities: avoiding school drop-out, direct impact to the elimination of child labour, - Working groups, monitoring system, workshops, (more than 130 local leaders trained), - Collaboration with Ministry of Education, local government, other NGO-s - Communication with members, - Motivation of teachers, involving pupils and parents • Some results: • More than 2 400 teachers, have been committed in individual work with more than 5 000 pupils. • More than 2 100 pupils are returned back to school, while over 4 200 others have been rescued from dropping out from school. • Durresi 145 teachers dealing with more than 360 pupils, out of whom 190 turned back and integrated • Korca, 215 teachers dealing with more than 315 pupils, out of whom 120 turned back and integrated. • Fieri, 180 teachers dealing with 220 pupils, out of whom 132 turned back and integrated. • Tirana, 135 teachers dealing with 359 pupils, out of whom 134 turned back and integrated. • Working to realise concrete objectives: - decrease the number of pupils dropped out from the school, - decrease the number of working children

The comittment for creating Child Labour Free Zones • “Child Labour Free Zone” is an advanced concept related to elimination of child labour. • To reach this objective, programs and projects should involve all stakeholders of a certain area, such as teachers, pupils and parents, various community groups, organs of local governments, other interested non-governmental organizations etc. • Actually, we are implementing only pilot programs or projects, which serve as examples that should be enlarged and used to reach the set objectives for building a child labour free society. • Following are three examples from our experience:

Levani, supported by FNV, Holland • Levani comune in Fieri district is a very poor rural area, with a high presence of Roma community. • There is a primary school with 464 pupils, 20 of which had dropped out and started working. In addition, there were other 94 pupils, out of which 58 females, mainly from Roma community, who were at risk of dropping out, • Concrete objectives were defined.... • Efficient monitoring groups, involving more than 60 teachers, pupils, parents, representatives of trade unions, Roma community, local government and Regional Education Directorate, which all together were committed to reach the Project objectives. • The concrete individual work with pupils was associated with the organization of several cultural and sportive activities, where participated not only the 110 pupils subject of the Project, but also other pupils of the school, who were distinguished in such activities. • Hence, some good results have been reached regarding both indicators: 16 pupils were withdrawn from working and turned back to school, two females had problems with their parents, because of their age and physical growth. • From the 94 pupils at risk to drop out, 68 of them were totally integrated at school, 14 pupils had made evident progress, while 12 pupils were still having problems with their results at school. • The basis of these achievements was the concrete individual work done with pupils by teachers and other stakeholders. But food packages that were delivered with the financial assistance of Dutch Trade Union, FNV, had a direct impact. Even though very symbolic, they were a good support to teachers’ and pupils’ work and had a great impact on many families of Roma people community.

Bathore, in Tirana neighbourhood, supported by ILO-IPEC • Bathore, in Tirana neighbourhood, is one of the biggest informal areas in Albania, created after the change of former system in 1991. It has got about 30 000 inhabitants, most of them living in poverty. • Two primary schools, with about 2 897 pupils and 180 teachers operate in this area. • More than 120 pupils who had dropped out and were working, or were at risk of dropping out, were the target of this project. More than 45 teachers, pupils, leaders of local trade unions, representatives of local government and non governmental organizations of this area, were involved and worked concretely with the pupils and their parents for convincing them to turn back to school. • Four monitoring groups, composed of 22 teachers, pupils and parents were established and functioned within the framework of this Project. They paid more than 130 visits in pupils’ families, discussing with their parents and working individually with each of them, also taking into consideration the individual pecularities of each pupil. • As a result of this hard work, 101 pupils were withdrawn from working and turned back to school, or were rescued from dropping out, while the others were provided with non formal education and complementary services, taking account of their individual and family conditions.

Korca district supported by AOb Secondary Education, Holland • There are 15 873 pupils enrolled and 1 040 teachers employed at the primary education system in Korca district. • Only in “Asdreni” and “ Naim Frasheri” schools, where the work of our two trade unions is focused, during the school year 2010-2011, 89 pupils had dropped out and were working. In addition, there were 420 pupils at risk to drop out, who missed several classes in a day or even several days in a week, working during the missing days / hours, before or after the school lessons. • Most of these pupils were from Roma or Egyptian communities. For example, at “Naim Frasheri” school, out of 359 pupils in total, 345 come from these communities. Their parents have a low educational level and their families face many financial problems, being in the threshold of survival conditions. • Eight Monitoring groups, composed of 48, teachers, pupils and parents, objectives, concrete individual work... • As a result of the concrete work done in the framework of this Project implementation, 52 pupils out of 89 who had dropped out, were withdrawn from working and turned back to school, while 256 pupils out of 420 who were at risk to drop out, were totally integrated and improved their results at school. • A positive impact has had the provision of school materials for 80 pupils from both these schools, which was enabled for three years in succession through the financial support of, AOb. • Supported by AOb, with some contribution also from our trade unions, the work is going on in other two schools.

Some lessons learned about the comittment of education trade unions to preventand eliminate child labour • The experience shows that to sucessfully reduce drop outs, prevent and eliminate child labour, we should take into consideration some of the following: • Leaders on all levels, including school trade unions, should have a better understandingof the fact that committment to keep pupils at school, prevent and eliminate child labour, are very important trade union issues, • It is very important to include the issue of prevention and elimination of child labour in the agenda of each trade union, as its priorities, together with protection of social-economic interests of its members, improvement of working conditions and other issues directly related to trade unions mission. • This requires a better acquaintance of the situation, identification of schools and pupils facing drop outs and defining the measures that should be taken, involving both teachers and pupils in concrete actions for the improvement of the situation. - Develop questionaries with detailed data, prepare individual intervention plans • Training of leaders, teachers and activists of teachers’ trade unions, Seminars and other activities should be focused on the following issues: • International standards and national legal framework • Coordination and collaboration with school administrations, local government, parents and community for preventing and eliminating child labour. • Teachers’ individual work with pupils, ( those who don’t have dropped out or are at risk to drop out, as well as children from Roma and Egyptian communities), by dealing individually with concrete cases and situations.

Some lessons learned about the comittment of education trade unions to preventand eliminate child labour • Establishing and making functional the Monitoring Groups, on school level, composed of teachers, pupils, parents and representatives of school administrations • These groups are responsible for: • Organization of public discussions with teachers involved and selected pupils, Developing questionaires with all required data about each target pupil and cooperate with tutoring teachers about issues related to continuation of teaching process and pupils’ progress. • Working together with pupils’ government and parents’ committee, for assisting targeted pupils by also involving the best pupils in the respective classes. • Undertaking concrete and individual actionswith pupils who have dropped out or are at risk to, especially dealing with those who are actually working, their parents and relatives, in cases when there are efforts to drop them out of school. • Organization of cultural, artistic and sportive activitieswith the participation of all target pupils, aiming at making school and learning as attractive as possible for each of them. • Coordination of all this work with school administrations and Regional Education Directorates also working closely with local governmentin the respective districts. • Massive use of publicationsproduced by education trade unions such as: ILO-ACTRAV Manual, “Trade Unions and Child Labour”, “SCREAM” Modules, the Manual “Teaching and Learning in the Informal Education”, as well as divulgation of achieved results and best experiences through communication means, TV channels, newspapers etc.

Other branch TU-s engagement and regional initiatives • Two objectives of education trade unions: - Enlarging the number of teachers engaged and - Involving other branch trade unions • Activities: - Since the beginning, joint trainings on internat. standards and CHL - Conference: ITUC, KSSH, BSPSH, October 2004 - Adoption of Special Resolution in the Congresses of KSSH in November 2004, • Regional Conference in October 2006, supported by FNV/AOb and ILO-IPEC in Tirana, -Participating: EI, representatives from: 6 countries of the region, - A working plan elaborated, follow-up activities... • Other activities on other branch trade unions involvement, 2007 - Other two activities, (RT), in 2008 – concrete actions –textile, building .. - Joint Agreement in April 2008- wide participation, - State Labour Inspectorate, involvement and special RT, - ILO-IPEC MP - another step forward-second level-regional

Examples of Good Practices • Collaboration between TUFESA / ITUAE and other branches of trade unions, • Using collective agreements as an important instrument for ChL prevention and elimination, - For the first time, fsash/spash engagement, Ministry support, - Achievements-basis for further insistence-remuneration, - Impact of our trade unions work to the Ministry and the Government. • Adoption of Special Resolutions against ChL, in the FSASH and KSSH Congresses, • Concrete work of teachers and TU local leaders, with individual pupils, • Important publications: ILO ACTRAV Manual “Trade Unions and Child Labour”. SCREAM package, Manual on Non-Formal Education, Magazine “Tribuna Sindikale”, fsash-spash Website

CONTACTS FSASH/SPASH Rruga Dora D’Istria Pallati Perballe Fakultetit Juridik, Kati 3 Tirana, Albania Tel & fax: + 355 4 25 65 32 Mobile: + 355 68 21 52 891 E-mail: fsash@abcom.al Website: www.fsash-spash.com Contact person: Stavri Liko

Trade Unions and CHILD LABOUR IN ALBANIA