National protest rally against low wages and poverty

On 30 May 2006, some 15,000 members of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria took part in a national protest rally in Sofia against low incomes and the growing level of poverty among Bulgarian people.

The Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) called for protest action during the drafting of the national budget for 2007. This call came at a time when figures concerning the economic situation of the Bulgarian population showed a worrying trend.

The protest rally took place in front of the Council of Ministers building in Sofia on 30 May 2006. Healthcare professionals, miners, teachers, doctors, electrical engineers, transport workers and machine builders were the main participants of the protest. The largest number of protesters came from the Blagoevgrad, Pazardjik, Plovdiv, Pernik and Dupnitsa regions of the country. In total, 15,000 members of CITUB took part in the protest.

High poverty levels

The low incomes and growing level of poverty in Bulgaria were the main reasons for the protest action organised by CITUB. Currently, some three million Bulgarian citizens live below the poverty line; more than half (55%) of households have a monthly income of up to BGN 180 (€92.68) per family member and the increase in the average wage of BGN 9 (€4.63) has already been offset by the relatively high national inflation rate of 4.6%. As a result, both salaries and pensions will devalue more than they have ever done in the last seven years.

Forecasts by the Institute for Social and Trade Union Research within CITUB expect that the inflation rate for this year will be between 8% and 10%; therefore, as the 6% increase in wages will not match the expected rise in the cost of living, more people will find it harder to make ends meet. In the manufacturing sector, wages are frozen and, at present, employees in many industry branches are being paid minimum wages topped up by social insurance funds.

Trade union demands

The demands of the trade unions in relation to these trends were presented in a protest declaration, which was delivered to representatives of the President, Georgi Parvanov, the Prime Minister, Sergey Stanishev, the Chair of the Parliament, Georgi Pirinski, and the Deputy Chair of the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA), Dikran Tebeyan. The declaration was also sent to the chairs of the parliamentary groups, the Ministry for Health and to the chairs of the employer organisations.

The declaration stated:

We want urgent legislation and regulation changes to retain the supplementary payments for working conditions, length of service and food vouchers. We want the government to refrain from changes in the labour laws and to reject the demands of employers for the extension of working hours and liberalisation of conditions for overtime work. We also want wage increases in the private sector and the public finance sector, as well as higher minimum wage increases that take into account the poverty threshold. From 1 January 2007, the minimum wage shall be BGN 200.

CITUB also insists that the increase in personal social insurance contributions be abolished; at the same time, the organisation wants to encourage an increase in the tax-free income level and to reduce tax deductions for low and average wage earners. The organisation also insists on penalty proceedings and even jail sentences for employers who are not paying fair wages and insurance contributions to their employees.

President of CITUB, Jeliazko Hristov, announced that if the October 2006 report of the European Commission on Bulgaria’s economic performance in the run-up to membership of the EU is not positive, the trade unions will ask for the current government to step down. He also insisted that a social and economic development pact for the country up to 2012 should be signed between the government, trade unions and employers. The government, or one of its agencies, has signed yet another memorandum with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) committing to a wage increase by 2007, most probably in order to maintain the current level of pensions, to find – by the end of this year – a solution for phasing out the length of service allowance and to decrease the level of paid sick leave.

Support for protest action

According to Vice-president of the Confederation of Labour Podkrepa (CL Podkrepa), Dimitar Manolov, the organisation supports CITUB’s demands.

In addition, CITUB received letters from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) and many national organisations expressing their support for the demonstration.

The BIA, having officially received a declaration from the national protest participants, stated: ‘When the issue is about fighting the illegal economy, the view of the Bulgarian employers is no different than that of trade unions. The employer organisations do not want to phase out the length of service allowance but want to adopt a new formula to motivate highly-skilled and experienced workers.’

Government reaction

The trade unions received assurances from the deputy chair of the parliament that they would be assisted in drafting a new law for collective labour dispute settlements.

Minister of Labour, Emilia Maslarova, stated that the government would do everything in its power to fulfil its commitments. Subsequently, Prime Minister Stanishev invited the trade union management to a meeting to discuss the problematic areas of the social and economic development pact, so that the document could be signed by the end of June 2006.

Slavi Diakov, CITUB