TIRANA, Nov  8  /ATA/ Prime Minister Edi Rama on Tuesday saw first-hand the work process at the factory in Fushë Kërcik in Kamza, which manufactures olive wood kitchen utensils.

The factory has 100 employees and all its production goes for export, for leading brands in the world.

Very soon, the business will move to a new, larger building, where it will also invest in a day care for the children of the staff.

The owner of the factory, while explaining the work process, said that the utensils are produced for French and German brands.

Regarding salaries, he emphasized that the minimum salary varies from 40,000 to 50,000. “The lowest net salary is 40 thousand. I have to pay them in order to retain the work force. ALL 50 thousand is the pay of those working in the sawing process. The average pay is 47-48 thousand and above,” the owner of the factory said.

Rama asked the owner to increase the pay of the staff at this time of adversity.

“I have notified the staff of a pay increase in December”, the owner replied.

“If you subtract a little from your profit to cover the pay raise, they will be more motivated to work. Meanwhile, under the budget and fiscal package that will be passed by parliament soon, the income tax will be scrapped for salaries up to 50,000 ALL. So they will get a little more”, said Rama.

/j.p/sm/