Authoritarian administration, low salaries, bad organization of work – these are just some of the grievances a significant number of workers in Bulgaria have. The most pressing of these problems are being brought to the negotiating table with the mediation of the trade unions. Trade union leaders in Bulgaria have high credibility with the public, but their dialogue with employers and government is usually explosive, focusing public attention on issues vital to the working people in the country.

According to the leaders of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB), success comes when they manage to convince the authorities there is need of legislative amendments to the code of labour and the existing regulations. The first step is usually made by the state – it decides whether to tackle a given issue itself or to assign the job to the social partners – trade unions and employers. On the basis of statistical data, the CITUB recently came out with an overview of the most pressing problems the country faces. They largely concern the state, which is employer to some 500,000 able bodied people with university degrees. Yet their incomes barely exceed the minimum salary in the country. The sectors affected most are culture, education and the intellectual sphere, where monthly wages range from 200 to 300 euro.

“The financial burden will be for the budget because that is where the money for decent wages will have to come from,” says Plamen Dimitrov, president of the CITUB. He added that the CITUB would address the problem of social protection for the young and highly educated in Bulgaria.

“Ninety percent of the new job openings on the labour market until 2018 will be for people with university degrees. If you have a university education, someone will have to pay you an appropriate salary; that is the reason why we are proposing the introduction of a minimum salary for university graduates in Bulgaria, different from the minimum salary for people with a lower level of education. It is vital that we start taking concrete steps. Unless we look for a formula that will keep the young and educated in Bulgaria and stimulate them to work here, we shall miss our chance of disproving the data by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Demographic Institute that by 2030 Bulgaria will have a population of 5 million. The CITUB is now proposing measures, connected most of all with incomes. It is time to be discussing a higher minimum salary for people with a university education working in the relevant sphere. Young people must know that when they graduate and start work, they will not be paid less than 350 euro per month. And that there will be incentives for them to continue their education, to improve their qualification and double their incomes. Some business circles immediately reacted to our proposals for the introduction of a minimum salary for university graduates. My response to them is – statistical data show that the social security installments of 95 percent of university graduates are based on monthly salaries of 350 euro. What we want to see are measures targeted at the young who are yet to enter the labour market. It is important that they know there is a higher threshold which will grow depending on the real income of working people with an education in the economy.”

As to employment, the country is as yet unable to reach the pre-crisis levels and 300,000 jobs have not been recovered, Plamen Dimitrov says. In his words, what we now desperately need are investments in sectors which are able to provide technological advantages and guarantee job and income security and predictability. “These things are interconnected but steps must be taken to check this brain drain,” says Plamen Dimitrov.

 “The principal investment tool are European funds in all of their aspects as well as policies aimed at attracting investors. The situation in the EU at this time means this is a conversation we must have and the government and the prime minister must be much more forceful and firm in their position that Bulgaria and the poorest region of the EU are in need of targeted measures. Some of the old member countries are ready for a new dialogue. This dialogue will unfold against the backdrop of the difficulties the EU is having in terms of its public credibility and that is crucial to our shared European future.”

English version: Milena Daynova