Some 10,000 Bulgarian workers flooded the streets of Sofia on 27 October demanding decent incomes and workers’ rights. Members of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CITUB) from all over the country joined the march to the Council of Ministers.
Backed by workers from all sectors, President Plamen Dimitrov handed a declaration to the government and employers.
“Everyone has to get a monthly salary increase of at least 100 BGN (€50) for the current year, irrespective of the sphere they work in: a school, a hospital, in the administration, in the mines, in a shop. This is what people want to say today,” said Plamen Dimitrov. The protest also focused on defending social benefits.
Additional payments for experience and length of service (seniority bonuses) failed to compensate for the fall in the value of incomes, said Mr Dimitrov. “Because of this constant ‘taking’, over the last seven to eight years some 500,000 people have left the country. For me this is the most important issue – how, as well as increasing incomes, we can bring Bulgarians back to Bulgaria and how all of us can live better.”
“Our country is already lacking people, because they are fleeing from misery,” said a representative of the tailoring industry at the CITUB protest. “We work for miserable pennies and on top of all that, we do not receive them. Small towns are already depopulated, and people are fleeing abroad.”
“Although we are learning all our lives, we suffer humiliation. The remuneration of nurses should be at least three minimum wages,” said medical staff leading the protest.
The CITUB protest declaration was read at the rally before being handed to Social Affairs Minister Biser Petkov and business representatives taking part in a meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation at the Council of Ministers.
“We want the Prime Minister’s personal commitment to include our country in the upcoming EU Alliance for upward wage convergence,” announced Plamen Dimitrov. “France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands are the countries who set the pace. They do not want social dumping. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia are already there. Our estimate is that the budget requires about 100 million BGN for salaries, which would be enough for a 10% increase in certain wages. We have calculated our demands well. The Finance Minister has given part of the amount. We need to find these 100 million BGN.”
Bulgaria is about to decide whether it wants Bulgarian wages to match European ones in the next few years, or whether the country will stay in the backyard of Europe, explained Plamen Dimitrov. “We want a solution from Prime Minister Borisov now. Our struggle continues on the road to higher wages.”
